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Published in: The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery 1/2021

Open Access 01-12-2021 | COVID-19 | Research

COVID-19 Infection Stigma Scale: psychometric properties

Authors: Hayam Mohammed Elgohari, Medhat Mohamed Bassiony, Mohammad Gamal Sehlo, Usama Mahmoud Youssef, Heba Mohamed Ali, Islam Shahin, Dina Sameh Elrafey, Rehab Saeed Mahdy

Published in: The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery | Issue 1/2021

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Abstract

Background

Stigma has been noticed towards patients with COVID-19 in several regions of the world. This social discrimination has contributed to delay in diagnosis and treatment. Also, it may increase the suffering of the patients leading to poor outcome of the illness. Stigma can be assessed with the use of a valid and reliable instrument developed and adapted to our culture. Our objective was to analyze the psychometric properties of COVID-19 Infection Stigma Scale (CISS) for measuring the social stigma among patients with COVID-19 in Egypt. A cross-sectional study that included 182 COVID-19 patients was carried out. The reliability, the convergent validity, and the external and internal consistency of the scale were measured. Factor analysis was used to exclude the weak items.

Results

The mean of the COVID-19 Infection Stigma Scale scores was 34.97±10.35 which was higher than 50% of the score. Absence of the floor and ceiling effects was observed. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for scale reliability ranged from 0.75 to 0.94 with 0.82 for the total score. The convergent validity coefficients ranged from 0.36 to 0.63. Test-retest validity Pearson’s correlation coefficients ranged from 0.72 to 0.92 with 0.89 for the total score. The split half correlation coefficient was 0.86, and the reliability coefficient was 0.92. Both were acceptable correlation coefficients for internal consistency of the scale. Factor analysis showed two factors had latent root greater than 1. The rotated component matrix of the 2 factors revealed that all questions had r value more than 0.30, which means that no need to exclude any of them.

Conclusion

The results showed that the COVID-19 Infection Stigma Scale is a valid and reliable instrument for the Egyptian people.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
COVID-19 Infection Stigma Scale: psychometric properties
Authors
Hayam Mohammed Elgohari
Medhat Mohamed Bassiony
Mohammad Gamal Sehlo
Usama Mahmoud Youssef
Heba Mohamed Ali
Islam Shahin
Dina Sameh Elrafey
Rehab Saeed Mahdy
Publication date
01-12-2021
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Keyword
COVID-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41983-021-00317-0

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