Quality of life, social support, stigmatization and adjustment in patients with psoriasis

OBJECTIVE To assess the quality of life (QoL), social support, stigmatization and adjustment in a sample of patients with psoriasis and to investigate their relationships with psychosocial, demographic, and clinical characteristics. METHOD The sample consisted of 110 patients with psoriasis who attended the special dermatology clinic of a public hospital in Athens. The participants completed a series of questionnaires, including the Dermatology Life Quality Index, the Short Form Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ-6), the Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness (SSCI-24), and two sub-scales of the self-report Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale, and answered questions concerning socio-demographic characteristics. Data analysis was conducted with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS), version 25.0. The PROCESS v3.5 program was used to examine mediator factors. RESULTS On multiple regression analysis, internalized stigmatization, QoL, educational level, and satisfaction with social support were demonstrated to be significant predictors of psychological distress (R-2 =0.563). The mediating role of stigma in the relationship between social support, QoL and psychological distress was confirmed (p<0.001). The mediating role of internalized stigmatization in the relationship between QoL and psychological distress was also confirmed (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Stigmatization of patients with psoriasis should be taken into account in the efforts of health professionals to help these patients better adapt to, and cope with their disease.