The Self-Stigma of Depression Scale (SSDS): Development and psychometric evaluation of a new instrument
Date
2010
Authors
Barney, Lisa
Griffiths, Kathleen
Christensen, Helen
Jorm, Anthony F
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Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc
Abstract
Self-stigma may feature strongly and be detrimental for people with depression, but the understanding of its nature and prevalence is limited by the lack of psychometrically-validated measures. This study aimed to develop and validate a measure of self-stigma about depression. Items assessing self-stigma were developed from focus group discussions, and were tested and refined over three studies using surveys of 408 university students, 330 members of a depression Internet network, and 1312 members of the general Australian public. Evaluation involved item-level and bivariate analyses, and factor analytic procedures. Items performed consistently across the three surveys. The resulting Self-Stigma of Depression Scale (SSDS) comprised 16 items representing subscales of Shame, Self-Blame, Social Inadequacy, and Help-Seeking Inhibition. Construct validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability were satisfactory. The SSDS distinguishes self-stigma from perceptions of stigma by others, yields in-depth information about self-stigma of depression, and possesses good psychometric properties. It is a promising tool for the measurement of self-stigma and is likely to be useful in further understanding self-stigma and evaluating stigma interventions.
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Keywords: adolescent; adult; aged; article; Australia; depression; evaluation; female; hospitalization; human; Internet; male; middle aged; personality test; psychological aspect; psychological rating scale; psychometry; reproducibility; school; self concept; socia Beliefs; Depression; Interventions; Scale development; Stigma
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Source
International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research
Type
Journal article
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2037-12-31
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