Association of stigmatizing attitudes with people's opinion of depression as a valid reason for sickness absence: A Swedish vignette study.
Monica Bertilsson, Jesper Löve, Johan Martinsson and 2 others
PMID 35694939WHAT IT FOUND
Swedish adults with negative attitudes toward depression were significantly more likely to reject sickness absence for a person with mild depression.
This suggests public stigma may pressure employees to stay at work, potentially delaying necessary recovery or prompting premature return-to-work decisions.
Key findings
01Individuals with negative attitudes to depression were 1.76 times more likely to recommend against sickness absence for a person with mild depression compared to those without negative attitudes.
02The association between stigma and rejecting sickness absence remained significant even after adjusting for age, gender, education, health, work factors, and political ideology.
03Political ideology was the strongest factor reducing the association, suggesting that views on welfare and personal responsibility overlap with attitudes toward mental health stigma.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was self-recruited from a citizen panel, which may not represent the general population. Participants were highly educated (60% had higher education), which may have influenced the prevalence of negative attitudes. The vignette was brief and described mild-to-moderate symptoms, which might have been too vague to trigger specific attitudes about depression versus general sickness absence. The study used a cross-sectional design, so it cannot prove causation between stigma and attitudes toward absence. Floor effects were observed in some stigma scale items, reducing the variation in responses.
Declared interests
The study was part of the 'New Ways – Mental Health at Work' research program. No specific commercial funding or conflicts of interest were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this study proves that stigma causes people to stay at work. It shows an association in a survey of public opinion about a fictional case, not actual behavior or clinical outcomes for real patients.