Stigma of occupational stress and burnout: The role of lived experience with treatment in Iranian nurses

Stigma related to occupational stress and burnout may hinder nurses’ willingness to seek professional support. This study aimed to assess this stigma and identify potential predictors among nurses working in university-affiliated hospitals in Kashan, Iran, in 2025. This cross-sectional study included 250 nurses selected through proportionate stratified random sampling from six hospitals. Data were collected via a demographic and occupational questionnaire, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and the Stigma of Occupational Stress Scale for Nurses (SOSS-N). The data were analyzed via descriptive statistics and exploratory stepwise multiple linear regression in SPSS version 27. The mean total SOSS-N score was 48.13 ± 9.47 on the theoretical 12–84 scale (95% CI: 46.96–49.31). Perceived other stigma had the highest subscale mean, and personal stigma had the lowest subscale mean. According to the univariable analyses, psychiatric disorder history ( p = 0.048) and psychiatric medication history ( p = 0.032) were associated with total stigma. In the exploratory stepwise regression, psychiatric medication history was the only retained variable (B = -6.00, 95% CI -11.48 to -0.53; β = -0.136; p = 0.032); only 12 participants (4.8%) reported this history. The model explained 1.8% of the variance (R² = 0.018; adjusted R² = 0.014). Stigma was moderate on average, with perceived other and perceived structural stigma showing the highest mean scores. The measured individual and occupational factors had very limited explanatory value. The medication-history associations should be interpreted cautiously given the cross-sectional design, small subgroup, and low R².