A qualitative exploration of the experience of individual-level stigma among adolescents with a chronic illness.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Much of the research measuring stigma experience related to illness in children and adolescents has been conducted using measures developed from adult perspectives. However, children and adolescents are different from adults developmentally, and stigma is a subjective concept. As the first step in a multi-phase process to develop generic measures of individual-level stigma for use with adolescents with an illness, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the lived experiences of the different forms of individual-level stigma among adolescents with various illnesses.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews, utilizing multiperspectival interpretive phenomenological analysis, were conducted to identify commonalities in the experiences of perceived, enacted, and intern

SUBMITTER: Thomas JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12714286 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature