TY - JOUR
T1 - The Self-Stigma of Depression Scale (SSDS)
T2 - Development and psychometric evaluation of a new instrument
AU - Barney, Lisa J.
AU - Griffiths, Kathleen M.
AU - Christensen, Helen
AU - Jorm, Anthony F.
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Beliefs
KW - Depression
KW - Interventions
KW - Scale development
KW - Stigma
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78649598802&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/mpr.325
DO - 10.1002/mpr.325
M3 - Article
SN - 1049-8931
VL - 19
SP - 243
EP - 254
JO - International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research
JF - International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research
IS - 4
ER -