title: Assessment of stigma associated with tuberculosis in Mexico.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stigma is a major barrier to health care access and impacts the quality of life for individuals affected by tuberculosis (TB). Assessing TB stigma is essential to addressing health disparities. However, no such instrument was available in Mexico at the time of our study. This study examined the adaptability of the TB and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) stigma scales previously used in Thailand.
  
  
  METHODS
  The original scale, developed in English, was linguistically adapted to Spanish and administered to 217 individuals affected by TB in five states in Mexico. The TB-HIV stigma subscales were designed to assess individual and community perspectives. Additional data collected included general information and socio-demographics. Assessment of psychometric properties included basic statistical tests, evaluation of Cronbach's alpha and factor analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found no significant statistical differences associated with higher stigma scores by location, age, marital status, education and stigma scores. Factor analysis did not create any new factors. Internal consistency reliability coefficients were satisfactory (Cronbach α = 0.876-0.912).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of the stigma scales has implications for 1) health improvements, 2) research on stigma and health disparities, and 3) TB and HIV stigma interventions. Further research is needed to examine transferability among larger and randomly selected Spanish-speaking populations.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Social Work, College of Health Sciences, El Paso, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Moya
authors.affiliation: Edinboro University, Speech, Language & Hearing Department, Edinboro, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Social Work, College of Health Sciences, El Paso, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Chávez Baray
authors.affiliation: HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.affiliation: Project Concern International SOLUCION TB, San Diego, California, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lomeli
keywords: Mexico; measurement; stigma; tuberculosis