title: The California Assessment of Stigma Change: A Short Battery to Measure Improvements in the Public Stigma of Mental Illness.
abstract: Contact-based anti-stigma programs delivered by people with lived experience yields stigma change. This study examined psychometrics and sensitivity of the California Assessment of Stigma Change (CASC). CASC assesses prejudicial beliefs, affirming attitudes, and willingness to seek mental healthcare. Four samples, two high school groups, college students, and hotel desk clerks, completed CASC immediately before and after a contact-based program. Two samples completed follow-up: one of the high school groups and the college students. CASC assesses stigma with a 9-item Attribution Questionnaire (AQ9), personal empowerment with a 3-item scale (ES), recovery orientation with a 3-item scale (RS), and psychological help seeking willingness with a 6-item questionnaire (CSQ). Internal consistencies ranged adequate to satisfactory for AQ9, ES, and CSQ. Concurrent validity was partially supported. Change sensitivity was demonstrated among at least half of each construct's analyses. CASC seems a psychometrically valid way to efficiently monitor attitudinal and care seeking intentions changes. Outcome monitoring can strengthen contact-based anti-stigma programs, an emerging evidence-based practice.
authors.affiliation: National Consortium on Stigma and Empowerment, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), 3424 S State St., 1st Fl., Chicago, IL, 60616, USA, corrigan@iit.edu.
authors.forename: Patrick W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Corrigan
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gause
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Michaels
authors.forename: Blythe A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Buchholz
authors.forename: Jonathon E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Larson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011287:Prejudice; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057545:Social Stigma; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult