ASSESSING THE PERCEIVED STIGMA TOWARDS LEPROSY AMONG ADULT LIVING CLOSE TO THE LEPROSY HOSPITAL

Background: Leprosy stigma is a kind of social stigma, a strong feeling that a leprosy patient is shameful and is not accepted normally in society. It is also called leprosy-related stigma, lepro-stigma, and stigma of leprosy. Aim and Objective: To assess the level of knowledge on leprosy among adult living near by the leprosy hospital and to assess the perceived stigma, towards leprosy among adults living close to leprosy hospital. Research Methodology: The research approach is qualitative and Cross-sectional descriptive study design. The 200 adult people living closed to the Germen leprosy hospital Chennai was selected as study samples, and the convenient sampling techniques was used to select the study samples. Data were collected and analysed by descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Perceived stigma towards leprosy was found highest among participants with age 50 years or older, more than 10 years duration of stay in community close to the leprosy colony, and participants who were illiterate had higher perceived stigma and the association of level of knowledge among people who is living nearby leprosy hospital with the selected demographic variables was determined using Chi-Square test, reveals that there is no significant association between the level of knowledge and selected socio demographic variables. Similarly, perceptions about leprosy such as; difficult to treat (P<0.01), severe disease (P<0.05).) and punishment by God (p < 0.01) were significantly associated with higher perceived stigma