Disclosure of Disease among Women affected by Leprosy: A Qualitative Study
Purpose: Although leprosy is completely curable with multidrug therapy, it
is unfortunate that the stigma attached to leprosy persists even today. Fear of
social exclusion prevents disclosure of the disease to the family and community.
This study aimed to evaluate the extent of disclosure of disease among women
affected by leprosy in a tertiary referral hospital in Chhattisgarh State, India.
Method: A qualitative study was conducted with 57 women affected by leprosy
who reported at a tertiary referral hospital in Champa, Chhattisgarh State. The
respondents were 18 years of age or older, and had completed multidrug therapy
for leprosy. They were asked whether the disclosure of disease had affected their
interactions with family, neighbours and community members.
Results: Of the 57 women, 48 (84%) had disclosed their disease to their family,
17 (30%) to their neighbours and 13 (23%) to the community members. Thirty
women (53%) reported that they experienced problems after revealing the
ailment to their family, friends and neighbours. The qualitative analysis found
that negative behaviour towards people affected by leprosy still persists in the
community. Consequently, women affected by leprosy try to hide their disease
due to fear of negative community reactions.
Conclusion: This study emphasises the need to spread awareness about the
disease and its transmission, by educating the people affected by leprosy, their
families and the community. This should be a continuous process in order to
reduce or remove the stigma and discrimination against women affected by
leprosy, in particular.
Keywords
Authors
How to Cite
Download Citation
License
Copyright © 2020 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License By-NC-ND 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access ).
Similar Articles
- Natalie Smith, The Face of Disability in Nigeria: A Disability Survey in Kogi and Niger States , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 22 No. 1 (2011): Spring
- Bertine Vermeer, Marije T Cornielje, Huib Cornielje, Erik B Post, Mike A Idah, Nigerian Realities: Can we ignore Traditional Leadership in developing successful CBR? , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 26 No. 1 (2015): Spring 2015
- Nandini Ghosh, CBR Practice and Inclusion: Persons with Disabilities in North East India , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 32 No. 4: Winter 2021
- Tjitske de Groot, Charlotte Moore, Kim Hartog, Rising Above Stigma: Exploring the Coping Strategies of Adolescents with Albinism in Tanzania Through a Group Coping Intervention , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 36 No. Special Issue (2025): System of Support to Enable Community Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and their Families
- Acheampong Enoch, Alberta Nadutey, Barbara Fosua Afful, Reindolf Anokye, Menstrual Hygiene Management: Challenges and Coping Strategies for Adolescents with Disabilities in the Kumasi Metro of Ghana , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 31 No. 2 (2020): Summer 2020
- Nafisa Lira Huq, Tanya Jane Edmonds, Sally Baker, Lucy Busjia, Alexandra Devine, Kathy Fotis, Manjula Marella, Nicolas Goujon, Jill Keeffe, The Rapid Assessment of Disability – Informing the Development of an Instrument to Measure the Effectiveness of Disability Inclusive Development Through a Qualitative Study in Bangladesh , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 24 No. 3 (2013): Autumn
- Dr. Chandramuki, Indiramma Venkatakrishnashastry, Mysore Narasimha Vranda, Attitudes of Parents towards Children with Specific Learning Disabilities , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 23 No. 1 (2012): Spring
- Annemarie Gindorfer, Huib Cornielje, Editorial: Essential Standards for CBR field workers , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 31 No. 2 (2020): Summer 2020
- Huib Cornielje, How Neo-colonial Are We in What we are Doing? , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 32 No. 3 (2021): Autumn 2021
- Ana María Sánchez Rodríguez, Malcolm MacLachlan, Joanne McVeigh, Scaling of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities: A Case Study in the People’s Democratic Republic of Lao , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 32 No. 1 (2021): Spring
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Pitchaimani Govindharaj, Sampathkumar Srinivasan, Joydeepa Darlong, Activity Limitation of People Affected by Leprosy in an Endemic District in West Bengal, India , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 31 No. 3 (2020): Autumn
- Senthilkumar Ramasamy, Pitchaimani Govindharaj, Archana Kumar, Karthikeyan Govindasamy, Annamma S John, Changes in Social Participation of Persons Affected by Leprosy, Before and After Multidrug Therapy, in an Endemic State in Eastern India , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 30 No. 2 (2019): Summer 2019