Dimensions of Disease Stigma in Taiwan: A Multidimensional Scaling Analysis

Abstract

A pilot study and a main study were conducted to investigate what diseases were stigmatized in Taiwan society, and which dimensions people use to represent them. We first conducted a pilot study to find the 10 highly stigmatized diseases routinely seen in Taiwan, including SARS, AIDS, poliomyelitis, sexual disease, depression, drug addiction, psychosis, cleft lip and palate, shenkui (\"kidney deficiency,\" …), and pulmonary tuberculosis. In the main study, 44 undergraduates were asked to complete the similarity judgment task and the rating task. In the similarity judgment task, participants compared pairs of diseases and judged the similarity between the one disease and the other for each pair. In the rating task, participants described the 10 diseases on six bi-polar adjectives. uncontrollable-controllable, perilous-safe, concealable-conspicuous, temporary-permanent, noncontagious-contagious, and distant- approachable. Results of a multidimensional scaling analysis indicated that the stigmatized diseases were differentiated in terms of contagiousness and concealability. The cultural universality and specificity of social representation of the stigmatized diseases were discussed.