RELATIONSHIP OF ACTUAL STIGMA LEPROSY WITH THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF LEPROSY PATIENTS

Abstract

People think leprosy is an communicable disease, a curse and the patient must be alienated. Actual stigma will affect the quality of life for patients with leprosy. Lepers feel embarrassed, afraid to leave the house, and they tend to cover up their illnesses from the community, even for medical treatment, they must be clandestine. This condition results a late in the treatment of leprosy. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship of actual stigma of leprosy with the quality of life for patients with leprosy at room Outpatient Leprosy Hospital Sumberglagah Subdistrict Pacet Regency Mojokerto. Design research used correlational analytic with cross sectional. Sample of 40 people were taken with consecutive sampling. The independent variables actual stigma measured using a questionnaire and the dependent variable quality of life using a questionnaire adapted from WHOQOL-BREF. Stastitical test results using the Fisher Exact Test showed that Pv (0,000) < α (0,05), meaning there relationship of actual stigma of leprosy with the quality of life for patients with leprosy. Intensive learning needs to be given to the community so that the community has a positive perception on lepers, so that the quality of life of patients remains high.