Correlates of mental health stigma in the Buyende district of Eastern Uganda.

Understanding correlates and potential causes of mental illness stigma in community-based settings in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is important for developing effective interventions to reduce stigma and demand-side barriers for treatment. This study analyzed data from structured questionnaires administered to 178 respondents in the Buyende district in Eastern Uganda to investigate sociodemographic and clinical factors correlated with mental illness stigma. Factor analysis of 33 items revealed a single dominant factor reflecting mental health stigma. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of sociodemographic and clinical correlates were used to identify factors associated with stigma in the entire sample and separately within the subgroups with evidence of mental illness. In the entire sample, female gender was the only independent correlate of stigma. Analysis of the mental illness subgroup also showed that women had high levels of mental illness stigma. These findings suggest that female gender appears to be a more important correlate of mental health stigma than clinical factors. Nevertheless, effective destigmatizing interventions are needed for the entire population, with additional approaches specifically tailored to women.