title: The Self-Stigma of Depression Scale (SSDS): development and psychometric evaluation of a new instrument.
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.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia. lisa.barney@anu.edu.au
authors.forename: Lisa J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Barney
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Anthony F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Jorm
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011287:Prejudice; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013334:Students; D055815:Young Adult