[Perceived stigmatisation following laryngectomy].

Patients who have had a cancer-related total laryngectomy (N = 217) were studied in order to investigate possible associations between perceived stigmatisation and such physical and social factors as: type and intelligibility of the replacement alaryngeal voice, mental health, and gender. The laryngectomees participated in structured interviews. The German questionnaire "Fragebogen zur pyschosozialen Anpassung nach Laryngectomie" (Questionnaire for Psychosocial Adjustment after Laryngectomy, FPAL) was used to measure patients' perceived stigmatisation. Speech intelligibility was measured both by using the Post-laryngectomy Telephone Intelligibility Test (PLTT) and by taking into account patients' own evaluation of how well they are able to speak. Patients' mental health was measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Multi-factorial analysis of variance and covariance was used to test the effects of the parameters. Results show that stigmatisation is associated with anxiety (F = 5.992, p < 0.05 and F = 12.895, p < 0.001) but not with speech intelligibility, alaryngeal voice type, gender, or depression. There is a correspondence between the degree to which patients feel stigmatised because of their voice or tracheostomy and their sense of loneliness (F = 4.917, p < 0.05 and F = 6.271, p < 0.05). We can conclude that perceived stigmatisation is frequently accompanied by anxiety and loneliness. Men are apparently as often concerned as women. Stigmatisation is not increased when patients do use electronic devices for communication, and it is not lower in patients whose operation dates back several years.