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Mpox stigma among men who have sex with men in the Netherlands: Underlying beliefs and comparisons across other commonly stigmatized infections
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  • Hanne M.L. Zimmermann,
  • Thomas Gültzow,
  • Tamika Marcos,
  • Haoyi Wang,
  • Kai. J. Jonas,
  • Sarah E. Stutterheim
Hanne M.L. Zimmermann
Universiteit Maastricht Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience

Corresponding Author:h.zimmermann@maastrichtuniversity.nl

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Thomas Gültzow
Universiteit Maastricht Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience
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Tamika Marcos
Universiteit Maastricht Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience
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Haoyi Wang
Universiteit Maastricht Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience
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Kai. J. Jonas
Universiteit Maastricht Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience
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Sarah E. Stutterheim
Universiteit Maastricht Care and Public Health Research Institute
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Abstract

People with mpox are likely to be stigmatized because of analogies to other sexually transmitted infections. Stigma is driven by beliefs about the perceived severity of the condition and perceived responsibility for acquiring the condition, both in broader society and individual responsibility. We explored these beliefs and compared them across mpox, HIV, syphilis, gonorrhoea, and chlamydia in an online survey, conducted in July, 2022, with 394 men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) in the Netherlands. We compared mean scores between infections using repeated measures ANOVA and conducted hierarchical regression analyses to identify determinants of both mpox perceived responsibility endpoints. Results showed that participants expected that mpox would be seen as a ‘gay disease’ and will be used to blame gay men. Compared to other infections, mpox was considered less severe than HIV, but more severe than syphilis, gonorrhoea, and chlamydia. Perceived responsibility was comparable across infections, but, for each infection, participants perceived attributed responsibility for infection to be higher in society than individual responsibility. Both perceived responsibility endpoints were highly correlated with each other and with other stigma beliefs. These results provide insight on the underlying determinants of mpox stigma, and demonstrate that mpox stigma is present in the Netherlands.
12 May 2023Submitted to Journal of Medical Virology
15 May 2023Submission Checks Completed
15 May 2023Assigned to Editor
15 May 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
16 May 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
03 Jul 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Major
28 Jul 20231st Revision Received
28 Jul 2023Submission Checks Completed
28 Jul 2023Assigned to Editor
28 Jul 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
28 Jul 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
27 Aug 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
30 Aug 20232nd Revision Received
30 Aug 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
30 Aug 2023Submission Checks Completed
30 Aug 2023Assigned to Editor
31 Aug 2023Editorial Decision: Accept