Public and Personal Depression Stigma in a Rural American Female Sample

We examined public and personal stigma among a community sample of 1,000 women living in primarily rural counties of Western Kentucky. Data on demographics, depression, stigma, health information sources, and availability of health services were collected via a random digit dial survey. The prevalence of depression was 15.7%. The majority of respondents (82.2%) reported congruent levels of stigma with 11.6% reporting high public and high personal stigma. However, 17.8% of respondents reported incongruent public and personal stigma. The 7.5% of women with low public and high personal stigma were older and less educated, preferred anonymous sources of health information, and reported better availability of health services. The 10.3% of women with high public and low personal stigma were younger and more educated, preferred interpersonal sources of health information, and reported poorer availability of health services. In multivariate analyses, depression and lower education were associated with any incongruent stigma, while rural residence and White race/ethnicity was associated with high personal and public stigma. Psychiatric nurses should develop community-based and targeted, point-of-care interventions to reduce public and personal stigma among rural women.