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Development and psychometric evaluation of the Dementia Public Stigma Scale

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-21, 05:11 authored by Sa Rang KimSa Rang Kim, Claire EcclestonClaire Eccleston, Shannon Klekociuk, Peta CookPeta Cook, Kathleen DohertyKathleen Doherty

Objectives

Dementia is a stigmatised condition and dementia-related stigma is associated with low self-esteem, poor psychological wellbeing, social isolation and poor quality of life in people living with dementia and their families. There is, however, a lack of valid measures that accurately quantify dementia-related stigma in the general public. This study reports the initial psychometric evaluation of a new tool designed to measure dementia-related public stigma amongst community dwelling adults.

Methods

A sample of 3250 individuals aged 18 and over completed an online survey on their beliefs and feelings regarding dementia and people living with dementia, and their behavioural intentions towards people living with dementia. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using Maximum Likelihood with oblique rotation was performed to extract factors. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to confirm the factor structure using goodness-of-fit index (GFI), the comparative fit index (CFI), and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) to evaluate the model fit. Internal consistency was measured for the final scale version.

Results

EFA resulted in a 16-item, 5-factor model (Fear and discomfort, Negative perceptions, Positive perceptions, Burden, and Exclusion) that explained 50.43% of the total variance. The CFA-estimated model demonstrated a good fit; all fit indices were larger than 0.95 (GFI = 0.967, CFI = 0.959) and smaller than 0.05 (RMSEA = 0.048). The final scale showed moderate to high reliability scores ranging from α = 0.738 to 0.805.

Conclusions

The Dementia Public Stigma Scale is a tool with reliability, and some demonstrated validity. This scale can be used to measure the public stigma of dementia amongst adults and may be used in the development and evaluation of interventions aimed at dementia-related stigma reduction.

History

Publication title

International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

Volume

37

Pagination

1-9

ISSN

0885-6230

Department/School

Wicking Dementia Research Education Centre

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Place of publication

The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, England, W Sussex, Po19 8Sq

Rights statement

© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Mental health; Expanding knowledge in psychology; Expanding knowledge in human society

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