DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN INDIGENOUS URDU SCALE FOR MEASURING PERCEIVED MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA AMONG YOUNG ADULTS IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

The aim of the current research was to determine the content validity of anindigenousmental health stigma scale in Urdu among young adults in Pakistan. The main aim was to come up with a culturally sensitive instrument that fully reflects the multidimensionality of mental health stigma in this group of people. The scale was developed and validated in four consecutive phases, as follows: (1) item generation and original scale construction, (2) qualitative expert reviews, (3) quantitative content validity testing and (4)reliability testing .A panel of six subject-matter experts was chosen using a convenience sampling technique to perform content validation. The panel included experts who had been proven to have expertise in mental health service. The content validity methodology of Lynn (1986) was applied in order to study inter-rater agreement. The pre-test scale contained 33 questions measuring the personal stigma on cognitive, behavioral and knowledge based levels. An item-level agreement value of 0.50 was set as a minimum, sixteen items were dropped and a highly relevant and understandable instrument was obtained. This scale is the first empirically constructed Urdu-language perceived mental health stigma scale. The results suggest preliminary support of the content validity of the instrument and the basis of a further study on the factor structure, reliability, and construct validity of the instrument.