Conceptualizing Stigma: The Development of a Cross-Cultural Scale to Measure Stigma Related to Depression
Date
2014-09-29
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Abstract
The development of psychometrically sound, quantitative, and emically-driven measures of stigma across cultures has been identified as a critical lacuna in the growing body of literature on mental illness related stigma. The present investigation addresses this gap by designing a multidimensional measure of stigma with four separate participant pools comprised of Asian-Canadian and European-Canadian undergraduate students. Study 1 (N = 33) generated 144 scale items. In Study 2, 11 students, four stigma researchers, six consumers of depression, and three culture brokers evaluated the items. Scale design and development was conducted in Study 3 (N = 729) and includes the final factor solution. Study 4 (N = 258) investigates cross-cultural differences in stigmatizing attitudes using the new measure, as well as the scale’s convergent validity. The results of an exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution that evidenced strong internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity. The four factors were titled: Culture, Personal, Workplace and Family. This measure may be used to identify nuanced variations in the experience of mental illness stigma that are accounted for by culture. The strengths and limitations as well as directions for future research are discussed.
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Psychology--Clinical
Citation
Prentice, J. (2014). Conceptualizing Stigma: The Development of a Cross-Cultural Scale to Measure Stigma Related to Depression (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25408