Background. Psychosocial consequences of psoriasis have been studied extensively. Feelings of stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress are common consequences for patients with...Show moreBackground. Psychosocial consequences of psoriasis have been studied extensively. Feelings of stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress are common consequences for patients with psoriasis. However, research on the prospective influence of psychosocial factors on psoriasis symptom severity is scarce. Thus, in this study, it is researched if feelings of stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress are related to the exacerbation of psoriasis symptoms six and twelve months later. Method. This prospective study examined through four multiple regression analyses if the predictors stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress influenced clinician-assessed and self-administered psoriasis severity after six and twelve months. The type of dermatological treatment and baseline disease severity were included as control variables. Data was collected among 49 psoriasis outpatients using an extensive questionnaire containing multiple self-report questionnaires and through clinician-assessed psoriasis severity. This was conducted at three time points: baseline, at six months, and twelve months. Results. Solely for one predictor a significant effect was found, indicating that higher feelings of stigmatization during baseline measurement predicted lower self-administered psoriasis severity after 6 months (ß = -.38, t = -2.25, p = .03) No other significant effects were found for any predictor, regardless of the clinician-assessed or self-administered severity or the time point (all p ≥ .06). There were predominantly no to small effect sizes found (-.36 ≤ r ≤ .30). Conclusion and discussion. The results of this study cannot substantiate the effect of perceived stigmatization, worrying, and psychological distress on psoriasis severity later. However, a lack of power, the extended interval between measurements, and low mean baseline scores can partly explain the lack of results. Future research should enhance their research design by considering more control variables such as treatment adherence, alcohol consumption, visibility of the lesions, and coping strategies. Besides, a broader range of disease severity should be included. As psoriasis has a serious psychological impact, it is worthwhile to continue the research on the effect of psychosocial factors on psoriasis severity. Previous research suggests the existence of an effect, and establishing this could enhance and increase the use of tailored psychological interventions in the treatment of patients diagnosed with psoriasis. This subsequently can contribute to alleviating their disease burden.Show less
Background: Psoriasis is a common chronic skin condition characterized by red plaques, itching, scaling, and thickened skin. Stigma from the general public against people with psoriasis is a...Show moreBackground: Psoriasis is a common chronic skin condition characterized by red plaques, itching, scaling, and thickened skin. Stigma from the general public against people with psoriasis is a prevalent issue. Stigma in psoriasis has been studied mostly from the patient's perspective, while very little research has been done on public stigma from the perspective of the general population. There are several factors that may play a role in the stigmatization of people with psoriasis, such as knowledge, familiarity and empathy. Understanding these factors is crucial for developing effective interventions to tackle stigmatizing attitudes. Aims: the aim of this study was to explore potential factors that are related to stigmatizing attitudes from the general public towards individuals with psoriasis and to investigate how these factors were linked. Methods: This study was a sub-project of a bigger study and had a cross-sectional repeated measures within-subjects design. The sample consisted of 150 respondents from the Dutch population, with an average age of 33 years (SD = 13.1), comprising 48 men and 118 women. The respondents had to read a vignette about an encounter with a man with psoriasis after which we measured stigmatizing attitudes towards this person. The study assessed various factors related to these stigmatizing attitudes, including knowledge, familiarity, and empathy. Results: Less knowledge was associated with higher levels of stigmatizing attitudes (R² = 0.16, F(1, 149) = 29.11 , p < .001), as well as less familiarity with other people that have skin diseases (R² = 0.06, F(1, 149) = 10,04, p = .002). However, these relationships were not mediated by empathy. Discussion: This study highlights the potential significance of knowledge and familiarity in reducing stigmatizing attitudes towards people with psoriasis, suggesting the importance of interventions aimed at increasing public understanding and interactions between individuals with and without psoriasis. While empathy did not mediate the relationship between knowledge, familiarity, and stigmatizing attitudes, it is too early to conclude that empathy is irrelevant. By reviewing other studies, we found that empathy could be examined more extensively in several ways. Therefore, by considering different ways of measuring empathy, we can potentially see its role. Consequently, future research should further investigate and expand the ways in which empathy is assessed.Show less
