Clarification of stigma concepts in research with families of individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities

Abstract

Stigma concepts among families of individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities have received increased attention from researchers in the past decade. With a growing number of studies published, there are also notable discrepancies in conceptualizations and uses of stigma terms among scholars. These variations may result in inadequate comparisons of findings across studies and a failure to generalize the results. Therefore, I have compared various stigma concepts and offered key features of each term as well as suggested methodology for facilitating stigma research.

Keywords:

• affiliate stigma
• autism
• courtesy stigma
• experienced stigma
• parents
• perceived stigma

Author contribution

Marija Čolić conceptualized and wrote a manuscript.

Declarations data availability statement

No data were used in the study.

Ethics approval statement

No subjects were involved in this study.

Acknowledgements

Author wants to thank Sho Araiba for his comments on the earlier version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

Author does not have any conflict of interest to disclose.

Funding

No funding was received for this study.