Self-stigma in Psychiatric Patients –standardization of the ISMI Scale

Abstract

Manypsychiatric patients stigmatize themselves because of their mental disorder. Itis necessary to focus on both research and therapeutic options to alleviate theirburden resulting from self-stigma. The goal of this paper was to evaluate the Czech translation of the ISMI scale (the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illnessscale). The scale measures the level of self-stigma in psychiatric patients andconsists of 29 items divided in 5 subscales – Alienation, Stereotypeendorsement, Perceived discrimination, Social Withdrawal, and StigmaResistance. The research sample included 369 psychiatric patients. Theiraverage age was 41,5 + 13,3 years, and the majority were women (N = 210;56,6 %). The most common diagnoses were neurotic disorders (46,1 %), followedby mood disorders (18,4 %), substance use disorders (13,3 %), psychoses (10,8%), personality disorders (9,5 %), and organic disorders (1,6 %). Reliabilitywas assessed by Cronbach alpha (α = 0,91), split-half (Spearman-BrownCoefficient = 0,93), and test-retest with the second measurement 3 weeks afterthe first one (N = 17; r = 0,90, p < 0,05). We also performed exploratory factor analysisand the evaluation of validity based on correlations with two scales presentingphenomena connected to the concept of self-stigma (Beck Depression Scale-II andClinical Global Impression). Lastly, we created norms based on T-scores andstens for the overall scale and its subscales. The results showed that the Czech version of the ISMI scale has satisfactory psychometric properties.