Table 1_Investigating new opportunities to combat stigma in healthcare through a “universal” approach: findings from a longitudinal study of healthcare workers in Mombasa, Kenya.docx

In the best-fitted model, stigma domains were organized into two thematic categories: conditions & experiences (mental health, abortion, sexual violence, early pregnancy) and behaviors & identities (sex work, drug use, sexual and gender minorities). These two domains were then further organized into stigma as an overarching latent variable, with strong independent associations (β = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.57, 0.73 and β = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.54, 0.68, respectively).

Further, stigma as a latent variable was independently associated with healthcare workers’ individual dispositions, including agreeableness (B = −0.19, 95% CI: −0.34, −0.05) and acceptance of others (B = −0.28, 95% CI: −0.39, −0.18). These results support stigma as a “universal” heuristic among healthcare workers. Anti-stigma interventions should reduce domain-specific activities toward a “universal precautions” approach targeting larger worldviews, which can improve scalability and resource-efficiency.</p>