Self-perceived stigma in Parkinson’s Disease in an online sample: Comparison with in-person sample, role of anxiety, and relative utility of four measures of stigma perception

Online and in-person predictors of stigma perception with the PDQ-39_stigma included younger age (men) and depression (men, women). Depression mediated the relation between stigma perception and motor experiences of daily living (EDLs). In the online sample, when anxiety was added, it predicted stigma perception (PDQ-39_stigma, SSCI) and mediated the relation between stigma and both motor and non-motor EDLs (PDQ-39_stigma). For all four stigma-perception scales, younger age predicted scores. Multiple additional predictors of PDQ-39_stigma and SSCI scores suggest their utility relative to the other two scales. Conclusions: Younger age and depression predicted self-perceived stigma in online and in-person samples, indicating the cross-modal utility of the measure, PDQ-39_stigma. In the online sample, anxiety also predicted stigma perception per the PDQ-39_stigma and SSCI. We recommend both measures and note that treating depression and anxiety may be important especially in younger PwPD to reduce self-perceived stigma.