Stigma, Intrusiveness, and Distress in Parents of Children with a Disorder/Difference of Sex Development.
Katherine A Traino, Caroline M Roberts, Rachel S Fisher and 21 others
PMID 35353771WHAT IT FOUND
Parents' distress was not caused by stigma directly.
It arose when stigma made the child's condition feel like it was intruding on daily life. Therapists should target this interference and help parents maintain engagement in valued activities.
Key findings
01Illness intrusiveness mediated the relationship between stigma and parent depressive/anxious symptoms; stigma alone had no direct effect.
02Mothers reported significantly higher parent-focused stigma, depressive symptoms, and anxious symptoms than fathers.
03Parents with a family history of DSD reported significantly greater child-focused stigma than those without.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Cross-sectional design prevents causal conclusions. Self-report data may be influenced by common-method variance. Sample was primarily White, US-based, and higher socioeconomic status, limiting generalizability. Subgroups (fathers, family history) were small, reducing statistical power for those analyses. Findings apply to parents of young children (up to 5 years) and may not reflect experiences with older children/adolescents.
Declared interests
Research support from NIH and non-US government agencies. No specific commercial conflicts or author disclosures were detailed in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that reducing stigma alone will lower parent distress. The study found that stigma only affected distress when it made parents feel the condition was intruding on their daily lives. Target the interference and activity engagement, not just the stigma.