Youth who are subjected to IBD-related stigma may have higher anxiety about unpleasant symptoms that interfere with their participation in everyday activities, thus leading to less chances for reinforcement and greater depressed symptoms. The current study looked at a serial mediation model of IBD stigma, IBD concern, disease intrusiveness, and depressed symptoms, in which stigma was anticipated to have an indirect influence on young depressive symptoms via the serial effects of stigma on IBD concern and illness intrusiveness. Youth with IBD between the ages of 10 and 18 were recruited from a paediatric gastroenterology clinic and completed measures of IBD stigma, IBD fear, disease intrusiveness, and depressive symptoms.
In addition to many independent direct effects among the modelled variables, the results indicated a substantial IBD stigma IBD concern disease intrusiveness depressed symptoms serial mediation route, adjusting for juvenile sex and IBD severity. The experience of IBD-related stigma may lead to greater concern about IBD symptoms, regardless of disease activity. Furthermore, increased anxiety tends to exacerbate teenagers’ experiences of IBD-imposed constraints on normal and enjoyable activities, raising their chance of developing depressive symptoms. For lowering concern and depression symptoms in kids with IBD, stigma-specific therapy modules might be included into existing cognitive-behavioral techniques.
Reference: https://journals.lww.com/jpgn/Abstract/2021/03000/Illness_Stigma,_Worry,_Intrusiveness,_and.13.aspx
