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Extending the use of the 40-item HIV-stigma scale to older adults: an examination of reliability and validity
- Author:
- EMLET Charles A.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of HIV/AIDS and Social Services, 6(3), 2007, pp.43-54.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The original testing of the 40-item stigma scale developed by Berger et al. included very few older people but the need for appropriate measurement instruments has been heightened by the survival of people with HIV/AIDS to older ages, and also by new infections in people over 50. The scale was administered to 25 older adults (mean age 56.1 years) who also completed a semi-structured questionnaire about their views on how well the scale captured their experience of stigma. The scale, and its four sub-scales, showed excellent internal consistency and good convergent validity with the CES-D depression scale. Sixty-four respondents felt that it did a good job in capturing their experiences of stigma, or offered suggestions for improvement. The author concludes that the scale appears to maintain its integrity when used with older people. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
Measuring stigma in older and younger adults with HIV/AIDS: an analysis of an HIV stigma scale and initial exploration of subscales
- Author:
- EMLET Charles A.
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 15(4), July 2005, pp.291-300.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This study explores the validity of a scale designed to measure HIV stigma and identify potential subscales. A nonrandom sample of 88 individuals, 44 between the ages of 20 and 39 and 44 ages 50 and older, living with HIV/AIDS in the USA were interviewed and completed a 13-item HIV Stigma Scale. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) found 12 of the 13 items loaded cleanly into three subscales labeled as Distancing, Blaming, and Discrimination. The three newly identified subscales were found to have convergent validity with social support as expected. Overall, older adults were found to have higher, but nonsignificant scores on the Blaming subscale, whereas those 20 to 39 years old had significantly higher scores related to discrimination. The study concludes that a 13-item HIV stigma scale can discriminate experiences of stigma in older adults and support three subscales while maintaining internal consistency.