Feasibility of Social Capital in Family Relations and Patients with Different Stigmatized Ailments

The present study is an endeavor to access the social capital in interfamilial relations, observed by the patients with different stigmatized ailments. A total of 45 leprosy patients from The Leprosy Mission (TLM) hospital, Naini, Allahabad (15 non – deformed leprosy patients, 15 deformed non – handicapped leprosy patients and 15 deformed handicapped leprosy patients) and rest 15 patients with other stigmatized ailments (HIV/AIDS, TB, epilepsy) from T. B. Sapru govt. hospital, Allahabad were selected through purposive sampling method. Qualitative data were gathered through narrations of the patients. Content analysis of the narrations and interviews reveal that diseases like leprosy, TB, epilepsy or HIV/AIDS are not only a matter of concern for those suffering with an ailment. Stigma associated to such type of ailments such as the idea that they result due to past misdeeds, supernatural/devil power, heredity in nature and that they are contagious make the patients a secluded entity, due to discrimination, even in their family and gradually decrease the norms of care and support, interpersonal trust, reciprocity in the family set up.