Social avoidance and distress in eczema patients based on a health ecology model: a cross-sectional survey study

Background: Patients with eczema often experience profound stigma, low self-esteem, and anxiety due to lesions appearing on exposed areas, leading to social avoidance behaviours and significant distress. This severely impacts overall quality of life. Methods: A convenience sampling method was employed to survey eczema patients across eight grade A tertiary hospitals in China. A questionnaire survey was administered using general information questionnaire, the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Social Impact Scale, the sense of personal mastery scale , and the Comprehensive Score for Economic Toxicity. Descriptive statistics, mean differences, one-way analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis were employed to identify relevant influencing factors. Results: Patients with eczema scored (19.00±7.04) on social avoidance and distress. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that gender, educational attainment, average monthly household income, perceived social support, stigma, sense of personal mastery, and economic toxicity, when included in the regression equation, explained 86. 1% of the total variance. Conclusion: Patients with eczema experience social avoidance and distress at a moderately high level. Factors influencing social avoidance and distress include gender, educational attainment, average monthly household income, perceived social support, stigma, sense of personal control, and economic toxicity. Clinical trial number: Not applicable.