Incognito standardized patients for studying healthcare stigma: partial deception and other ethical challenges

This paper examines the ethical considerations of using the incognito clinic visits by standardized patients (SP) in order to measure enacted stigma in healthcare settings. It reviews traditional SP methods, introduces the new method, and discusses its potential harms and benefits.

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Publication Details

Journal
BMC Medical Ethics
Published
2026-03-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-026-01397-4
Primary Topic
Mental Health Treatment and Access
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Incognito standardized patients for studying healthcare stigma: partial deception and other ethical challenges

Yunqing Fei, S. Sylvia, M. Kumi Smith, Danyang Luo et al.
BMC Medical Ethics
Mental Health Treatment and Access
article

Incognito standardized patients for studying healthcare stigma: partial deception and other ethical challenges

Yunqing Fei, S. Sylvia, M. Kumi Smith, Danyang Luo, Siyan Meng
article en

Abstract

This paper examines the ethical considerations of using the incognito clinic visits by standardized patients (SP) in order to measure enacted stigma in healthcare settings. It reviews traditional SP methods, introduces the new method, and discusses its potential harms and benefits.

BMC Medical EthicsVol. 27(1)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US), University of Minnesota (US), Emory University (US), Twin Cities Orthopedics (US), Center for Global Health (US)
University of Minnesota, National Institutes of Health
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 38%
Mental Health Treatment and Access
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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