Trial reportSocial science & medicine (1982)2021
Stigma and misconceptions in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: A field experiment in India.
Trial report in Social science & medicine (1982), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of stigma reduction interventions and outbreak response adaptations in infectious disease outbreaks: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- How (not) to mobilize health workers in the fight against vaccine hesitancy: Experimental evidence from Germany's AstraZeneca controversy.BMC public health · 2022Trial
- An Emerging Global Threat After The COVID-19 Pandemic: Monkeypox Similarities and Differences.Polish journal of microbiology · 2026Review
- Symptom network structure across stigma subgroups in maintenance hemodialysis: a latent profile and network analysis.BMC nephrology · 2026Article
- Lessons from community engagement to improve COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment in Cochabamba, Bolivia.Global health action · 2024Article
- A scoping review of cultural issues concerning institutional quarantine and isolation during major multi-country outbreaks in Africa: 2000-2023.Health science reports · 2024Article
- Monkeypox stigma and risk communication; Understanding the dilemma.Journal of infection and public health · 2024Article
- Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Associations Between COVID-19 Stigma and Mental Health in a Population-Based Study of Adults with SARS-CoV-2 Infection.Health equity · 2024Article
- Article
- Quality of COVID-19 information, education and communication materials in India: A content analysis.Health education journal · 2023Article
- A multi-country study of the associations between HIV vulnerability status, perception of COVID-19 related stigma and post-traumatic stress symptoms during the first wave of the pandemic.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Stigmatization in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey experiment using attribution theory and the familiarity hypothesis.BMC public health · 2023Article
- A systematic review on the cultural factors associated with stigma during pandemics.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Stigma, Post-traumatic Stress, and COVID-19 Vaccination Intent in Mongolia, India, and the United States.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- "As if we are branded with the mark of Cain": stigma, guilt, and shame experienced by COVID-19 survivors in Israel - a qualitative study.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
- A qualitative study on health stigma and discrimination in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learnt from a public health perspective.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Social stigma against individuals with COVID-19: scale development and validation.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2023Article
- Causing trouble and being transmissible: COVID-19 survivors' experiences of stigma and discrimination in South Korea.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Article
- Public Perceptions Towards Online Health Information: A Mixed-Method Study in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.Journal of healthcare leadership · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A hidden cost of the COVID-19 pandemic is the stigma associated with the disease for those infected and groups that are considered as more likely to be infected. This paper examines whether the provision of accurate and focused information about COVID-19 from a reliable source can reduce stigmatization. We carry out a randomized field experiment in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, in which we provide an information brief about COVID-19 by phone to a random subsample of participants to address stigma and misconceptions. We find that the information brief decreases stigmatization of COVID-19 patients and certain groups such as religious minorities, lower-caste groups, and frontline workers (healthcare, police), and reduces the belief that infection cases are more prevalent among certain marginalized social and economic groups (Muslims, low caste, rural-poor population). We provide suggestive evidence that improved knowledge about the prevention and transmission of COVID-19 and reduced stress about the disease are important channels for the reduction in stigmatization.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.