Psychometric validation of the 8-Item Urdu Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness (SSCI-8) in people with Parkinson's...

Disease-related stigma is associated with poor mental health and wellbeing in people with Parkinson's disease. Urdu language tools for measuring stigma are not yet available. The aim of this study was therefore to develop and validate an Urdu version of the Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness-8 (SSCI-8).

The Urdu SSCI-8 was developed following the 'Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy' translation procedure. To assess its reliability and validity, 250 people diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, aged 50-65 years, completed the Urdu SSCI-8, along with Urdu versions of depression and quality of measures.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed that a single factor solution provided a good fit to the data, with high internal consistency (Cronbach Alpha = 0.95), and good fit indices (RMSEA = 0.05, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.98, GFI = 0.96). Composite Reliability Co-efficient (0.95) and Average Variance Extracted (0.71) values indicated strong convergent reliability and validity. Scores on the Urdu SSCI-8 correlated positively with depression (r = 0.53, p < 0.001), and negatively with quality of life (r = -0.61, p < 0.001), indicating high levels of convergent and discriminant validity.

The Urdu SSCI-8 is a reliable, valid, and culturally appropriate tool for measuring stigma among patients with Parkinson's disease.