COVID-19 Social Stigma Scale

Abstract

The COVID-19 Social Stigma Scale (Juniarti et al., 2023) is an inventory/questionnaire designed to assess social stigma among individuals in Indonesia in the context of COVID-19. The instrument was developed by generating items through a comprehensive literature review, which were then subjected to content validity evaluation by an expert panel. This process led to the identification of seven distinct dimensions related to COVID-19 stigma: social distancing, traditional prejudice, exclusionary sentiments, negative affect, treatment carryover, disclosure carryover, and perceptions of dangerousness. Each dimension initially comprised a varying number of items, resulting in an initial instrument containing 123 statement items. Specifically, the social distancing dimension had 32 items, traditional prejudice 15 items, exclusionary sentiments 14 items, negative affect 11 items, treatment carryover 4 items, disclosure carryover 16 items, and perceptions of dangerousness 31 items. Data were collected from a sample of adults, and subsequent Rasch analysis supported a final set of 11 items across the seven dimensions. The scale’s internal consistency has been reported.

Keywords

Social Stigma; COVID-19; Social Distancing; Traditional Prejudice; Exclusionary Sentiments; Negative Affect; Treatment Carryover; Disclosure Carryover; Perception of Dangerousness; Rasch Analysis

Authors

Juniarti, Neti; Susanti, Raini Diah; Yani, Desy Indra; Nurhasanah, Nurani

---

Purpose

This measure assesses social stigma among individuals in Indonesia following COVID-19.

Validity

Content Validity: Content validity was evaluated and confirmed by an expert panel.

Reliability

Internal Consistency: The Cronbach’s Alpha value for the COVID-19 stigma instrument was reported as +0.96. The person reliability value was +0.94, and the item reliability was also +0.94.

Factor Analysis

Rasch Analysis: The Rasch analysis indicated that the INFIT MNSQ and OUTFIT MNSQ had average values for the person of 0.99, which is close to the ideal weight of 1.00, indicating good fit. For INFIT ZSTD and OUTFIT ZSTD, the average value for the person was 0.99 and 0.88 respectively, approaching the ideal value of 0.0, suggesting good quality. Following this analysis, the final set of instrument items for measuring COVID-19 social stigma on a scale with seven dimensions consisted of 11 items that were infit and did not exhibit any bias.

Instrument: COVID-19 Social Stigma Scale

Test Type: Original

Format: Items are rated using a Likert scale with selections of “strongly agree,” “agree,” “don’t know,” “disagree,” or “strongly disagree.”

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older)

Population Details: Respondents were adults aged 17 years and above, located in Indonesia.

Test Methodology: The test methodology involved Test Validity, Content Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, and Item Response Theory.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:
No data is Available
No data is Available
No data is Available
No data is Available

Affiliation:
Neti Juniarti: Universitas Padjadjaran, Faculty of Nursing Department of Community Health Nursing
Raini Diah Susanti: Universitas Padjadjaran, Faculty of Nursing Department of Community Health Nursing
Desy Indra Yani: Universitas Padjadjaran, Faculty of Nursing Department of Community Health Nursing
Nurani Nurhasanah: Universitas Padjadjaran, Faculty of Nursing Department of Community Health Nursing

Email addresses:
Neti Juniarti: [email protected]
Raini Diah Susanti: No data is Available
Desy Indra Yani: No data is Available
Nurani Nurhasanah: No data is Available

Correspondence Address:
Juniarti, Neti: [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: May use for Research/Teaching
Commercial Use: No
Fee: No
Test Year: 2023
Web Site: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

References

Juniarti, N., Susanti, R. D., Yani, D. I., & Nurhasanah, N. (2023). Psychometric development and evaluation of a COVID-19 social stigma scale in Indonesia. PLoS ONE, 18(4), Article e0283870. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283870

Items of the COVID-19 Social Stigma Scale

The COVID-19 Social Stigma Scale is an 11-item measure. The items are available through the Test Location: 2023-63349-001, Supplemental Material.

Factors and Subscales (Dimensions):

• Social distancing

• Traditional prejudice

• Exclusionary sentiments

• Negative affect

• Treatment carryover

• Disclosure carryover

• Perception of dangerousness

Instructions: Please respond to the following items using the scale provided.

Response Scale:
1 = Strongly disagree
2 = Disagree
3 = Unsure
4 = Agree
5 = Strongly agree

---

Dimension 1: Social Distancing

1. People close themselves off because they are afraid of being blamed by others.

Dimension 2: Traditional Prejudice
2. COVID-19 sufferers are afraid of their identity being shared with the public.
3. People feel ashamed when diagnosed with COVID-19.

Dimension 3: Exclusionary Sentiments
4. People do not want to report being exposed to COVID-19 because they are ashamed and afraid of being shunned.
5. People would not admit they are infected with COVID-19 because they are afraid of losing their jobs.

Dimension 4: Negative Affect
6. People still feel that suffering from COVID-19 is a disgrace.
7. People with symptoms of anosmia don’t want to do swab tests for fear of being disgraced.

Dimension 5: Treatment Carryover
8. People hide their status of being exposed to COVID-19 for fear of losing their jobs.

Dimension 6: Disclosure Carryover
9. People do not want to do a rapid test for fear of a positive result.
10. People prefer self-isolation without being tested, but they do not commit to doing self-isolation properly.

Dimension 7: Perception of Dangerousness
11. People do not want to mention their close contacts when tracing for fear of losing other people’s friendship.