Abstract: Objective: To investigate the relationship between the status of stigma and the acceptance of disability in patients with hemiplegia due to cerebral hemorrhage. Methods: Following convenient sampling, hemiplegic patients with cerebral hemorrhage admitted to the neurosurgery department of the affiliated hospital of North China University of Science and Technology, between September 2018 and May 2019, were enrolled in the current study. Patients' socio-demographic information were collected using a self-designed general data questionnaire, patients' stigma due to cerebral hemorrhage hemiplegia was evaluated by the Stigma Scale for Chronic Disease, and disability acceptance were assessed using the Acceptance of Disability Scale-Revised. Results: Patients' education level, gender, occupation type, medical expenses, number of functional disorders, cerebral hemorrhage site, degree of dependence, neurological function classification, hemiplegic site and limb numbness had significant impact on patients' stigma due to cerebral hemorrhage hemiplegia (P<0.05). The mean scores of stigma in patients with cerebral hemorrhage, and disability acceptance were 80.52±8.32 and 70.62±14.10, respectively. Correlational analysis showed that the total score of patients' stigma was negatively correlated with the total score of disability acceptance (ra=-0.748, P<0.001). Under the subdimensions of disability acceptability, the extended dimension, subordinate dimension, inclusive dimension and transformation dimension were negatively correlated with stigma (r1=-0.657, r2=-0.653, r3=-0.484, r4=-0.384, P<0.001). Conclusion: The stigma of hemiplegic patients with cerebral hemorrhage was moderately high, which was negatively correlated with disability acceptance. Health care providers should implement psychological measures adequately for patients to reduce their stigma and improve their disability acceptance ability.

Key words: cerebral hemorrhage; hemiplegia; stigma; disability acceptance