Discrimination to cured leprosy patients living in rural community and its influencing factors

Objective To unde rstand the perceived external discr miination and its influencing factors among cured leprosy patients living inrural community of Zhejiang province,China.Methods with a self-designed questionnaire and multi-stage sampling,216 cured leprosy patients living in rural communities were selected and surveyed face-to-face.The data collected were analyzed with SPSS115.Results The perceived external discrmi ination among the cured leprosy patients was at low level with anaverage score of 3.82±3.23(ranged from 0 to 10).The main influencing factors of external perception of discr miination were the awareness of leprosy curable nature,self-care ability,social status,visible disability,economic statu,smarital status,and age with a multiple linear coefficient of 0.725 and a total variance of 33.002(P<0.01).Conclusion Cured leprosy patients living in rural community of Zhejiang perceived a certain degree of external discrmiination and measures should be taken to promote the physical and mental health of the leprosy patients.