Estigma do câncer de pulmão: conceito, fatores associados e avaliação.

Introduction: This article is an integrative review of the literature, which aims to identify the status of the issue of stigma perceived by patients with lung cancer and the instruments used for this evaluation. Methods: The sample consisted of 11 items found through database analysis of the medical literature and online retrieval: Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and significance level (CINAHL), PsycINFO and Scopus, using combinations of descriptors: stigma AND (lung neoplasm OR lung cancer).The search was conducted between September and October 2013. Results: The country with the highest number of publications was the United States (72.7%), and there was no Brazilian study. The publications were produced between 2004 and 2013, especially in 2013 (45.4%), indicating the importance of the topic. Four instruments to assess stigma were used, with the Cataldo Lung Cancer Stigma Scale (CLCSS) the only specific to lung cancer. The most significant findings were: patients with lung cancer feel stigmatized, regardless of being a smoker or not, they feel more guilty, ashamed and anxious than other patients with other cancers and there is a strong association between stigma and depression and impaired quality of life. Conclusion: The studies in this field are recent, few and no study in a Brazilian sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]