Conciencia de estigma y calidad de vida en personas con discapacidad física

Abstract

People with physical disabilities worldwide face restrictions and limitations in different social areas, resulting from pejorative attributes that can be internalized by the persons and this could affect their quality of life. The general objective of the study was to describe the levels of stigma consciousness and quality of life in people with physical disabilities. Participants were 52 people with physical disability, 30 men and 22 women, between 25 and 70 years old. The Stigma consciousness scale was used to identify the level of stigma awareness and the Spanish version of WHOQOL-BREF to determine the overall quality of life profile. The methodological process was built upon a quantitative approach, with a non-experimental design and a descriptive scope. For the analysis of the data, measures of central tendency and dispersion were used, as well as nonparametric tests (U-Mann Whitney and H-Kruskal Wallis) and Spearman's rho correlation coefficient. The results showed that the population had a tendency towards a low consciousness of stigma. Regarding the level of global quality of life there is a neutral tendency, the psychological domain being the best valued. It is concluded that while people have a lower consciousness of stigma, the level of quality of life is higher.