International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | September 2022 | Vol 9 | Issue 9 Page 3569 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health George N et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2022 Sep;9(9):3569-3575 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Internalized stigma and quality of life among recipients of a rural community mental health program in southern Karnataka, India: a cross sectional study Neethu George 1 *, Johnson Pradeep 2 , Ramakrishna B. Goud INTRODUCTION Health involves mental health which plays a major part in general well-being and health. World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that globally 450 million people suffer from mental disorders. 1 The overall weighted prevalence for any mental morbidity was 13.7% lifetime and 10.6% current mental morbidity according to a survey conducted in 2015-16. 2 One of the risk factors that can lead to non- adherence in any disease is the Stigma of the patient. 3 Stigma is the loss of status and discrimination triggered by negative stereotypes about people labeled as having a mental illness. Stigma impedes recovery by eroding individuals' social status, social network, and self-esteem, all of which contribute to poor outcomes, including unemployment, isolation, delayed treatment-seeking, treatment-refractory symptoms, prolonged course, and avoidable hospitalizations. 4 The occurrence of non- adherence and stigma can further deteriorate the condition of the patient. It can lead to relapses, dependence, complications, and toxicity. The absence of stigma and increased adherence promotes secondary prevention, promotion of treatment interventions, and economic benefits. 5 The mental health disorders itself produces stigma for both the patient and the family which in turn reduces the ability of the subject to look after their own status leading to non-adherence to treatment in terms of stopping medication. Thus the interaction of stigma and non- adherence leads to reduced wellbeing and quality of life ABSTRACT Background: In the field of mental health the role of adherence to medications is an important concept. One of the important reasons to be non-adherent to medications is the presence of stigma among mentally ill patients. The objectives of this study were to measure stigma to mental illness and quality of life among the enrolled patients in a community mental health program. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 persons registered under a rural mental health program selected by consecutive sampling. A questionnaire capturing information on socio-demography, stigma using Internalized stigma of mental illness (ISMI), and quality of life using WHO-BREF QOL questionnaire was used. Results: In study 8 (2.7%) of the study, subjects were suffering from moderate stigma. Factors like gender, type of family, and marital status were significantly associated with total stigma. Quality of life domains was also positively associated with education, occupation, marital status, and socioeconomic status. Conclusions: The study showed minimal existence of stigma and lower mean scores in quality-of-life domains. Keywords: Quality of life, Mentally ill persons, Rural mental health program, Stigma 1 Department of Community Medicine, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College, Perambalur Tamil Nadu, India 2 Department of Psychiatry, St. John's Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India 3 Department of Community Health, St. John's Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Received: 28 July 2022 Accepted: 22 August 2022 *Correspondence: Dr. Neethu George, E-mail: neethumampuzha@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20222226