The Self-Stigma of Depression Scale (SSDS): Development and psychometric evaluation of a new instrument

Lisa J. Barney*, Kathleen M. Griffiths, Helen Christensen, Anthony F. Jorm

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    67 Citations (Scopus)

    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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)243-254
    Number of pages12
    JournalInternational Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research
    Volume19
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Dec 2010

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