Psychology, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK.
Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2013;9:31-40. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S38560. Epub 2013 Jan 16.
Many people with mental illness experience stigma that has impacted their lives. In this study, we validated the Inventory of Stigmatizing Experiences (ISE) as a tool to help quantify the stigma experienced by patients with bipolar disorder and its impact on their lives. The ISE has two components, ie, the Stigma Experiences Scale (SES) and the Stigma Impact Scale (SIS), which were administered to a population of Argentinean patients with bipolar disorder. We characterized the differences between these two populations using the SES and SIS. Finally, we compared SES and SIS scores with those in a population of Canadian patients with bipolar disorder.
The SES and SIS scales were administered to tertiary care patients with bipolar I and II disorder in Argentina (n = 178) and Canada (n = 214).
In this study, we validated both SES (Kuder-Richardson coefficient of reliability, 0.78) and SIS (Cronbach's alpha, 0.91) scales in a population of Argentinean patients with bipolar disorder. There were no significant differences in stigma between patients with bipolar I or II disorder on SES or SIS. However, over 50% of all respondents believed that the average person is afraid of those with mental illnesses, that stigma associated with mental illness has affected their quality of life, and that their self-esteem has suffered due to stigma. In comparison with the Canadian population, Argentinean participants scored lower on both the SES and SIS, which may be due to cultural differences or to differences in population characteristics.
Stigma associated with mental illness is serious and pervasive. If we are to find successful strategies to mitigate stigma, it is first important to understand how patients perceive such stigma. The ISE is a valuable tool which allows us to do this with high reliability among cultures.
许多患有精神疾病的人都经历过对他们生活产生影响的污名化。在这项研究中，我们验证了污名体验量表（Inventory of Stigmatizing Experiences，ISE）作为一种帮助量化双相情感障碍患者所经历的污名及其对生活影响的工具。ISE 有两个组成部分，即污名体验量表（Stigma Experiences Scale，SES）和污名影响量表（Stigma Impact Scale，SIS），我们对阿根廷的双相情感障碍患者进行了这两个量表的评估。我们使用 SES 和 SIS 对这两个群体进行了特征描述。最后，我们将 SES 和 SIS 评分与加拿大双相情感障碍患者的评分进行了比较。
SES 和 SIS 量表被用于阿根廷（n=178）和加拿大（n=214）的三级保健机构中的双相 I 型和 II 型障碍患者。
在这项研究中，我们验证了 SES（Kuder-Richardson 可靠性系数，0.78）和 SIS（Cronbach's alpha，0.91）在阿根廷双相情感障碍患者中的量表。SES 或 SIS 上，I 型或 II 型障碍患者之间的污名没有显著差异。然而，超过 50%的受访者认为一般人害怕患有精神疾病的人，与精神疾病相关的污名已经影响了他们的生活质量，而且他们的自尊心因污名而受到了损害。与加拿大人群相比，阿根廷参与者在 SES 和 SIS 上的得分都较低，这可能是由于文化差异或人群特征的差异所致。
与精神疾病相关的污名是严重且普遍存在的。如果我们要找到成功的减轻污名的策略，首先了解患者如何感知这种污名是很重要的。ISE 是一种有价值的工具，它可以在文化之间以较高的可靠性进行评估。
