Abstract: Objective: To investigate the stigma and its related factors in patients with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Methods: Totally 188 patients with SCI were included by convenience sampling from a tertiary grade A hospital in Anhui province during September 2018 to December 2019. The general information questionnaire, Social Impact Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, Perceived Social Support Scale, and General Self-Efficacy Scale were used to collected data. Results: The score of stigma in patients with SCI was 55.98±10.73. The related factors of stigma included the status of marriage, education level, ASIA disability grade, injury severity, perceived stress, perceived social support and self-efficacy, which accounted for 75.3% of the total variation. Conclusion: Stigma in patients with SCI was at a moderate level. Providing patients with more companionship, support and communication would be benefit to reduce the pressure, improve their coping ability and reduce the stigma.

Key words: Spinal Cord Injury; stigma; perceived stress; perceived social support; self-efficacy