Abstract
Sometimes, relatives of children with autism experience feelings of guilt, abandonment and devaluation, as they tend to see themselves as the cause of their children’s illness. This causes social isolation and psychological discomfort. However, there are no scales that assess self-stigma. Therefore, the aim of the study is to show evidence of the validity and reliability of the Self-Stigma Scale in Relatives of People with Mental Illness in the Spanish context in relation to autism. A total of 287 progenitors participated in the study. For the validation and adaptation process, three confirmatory factor analyses, analysis of invariance across gender, reliability analysis and temporal stability, were carried out. The results revealed that the factor structure of the questionnaire was adequate, showing adequate levels of reliability.
Highlights
Public Health 2021, 18, Autism is a neuropsychological developmental disorder that causes qualitative impairments in interaction, communication and social imagination, and signs of cognitive and behavioural inflexibility, which functionally limit individuals and are present in a wide range of conditions [1,2]. The diagnosis of this disorder usually occurs during childhood, causing trauma for parents, often leading to a range of negative feelings and psychological repercussions, such as stigma of association, which consists as an extension of the concept by suffering rejection and marginalisation [3,4]
To measure the self-stigma perceived by relatives with a son or daughter with autism spectrum disorder, the Self-Stigma in Relatives of people with Mental Illness (SSRMI) by Morris, et al [19] was validated and adapted
A study by Mills, et al [26] using the SSRMI version showed that those family members who had high levels of stereotyping, discrimination, separation, guilt and devaluation showed a greater predisposition towards depression; the researchers used the scale in a multifactorial way
Summary
Res. Public Health 2021, 18, Autism is a neuropsychological developmental disorder that causes qualitative impairments in interaction, communication and social imagination, and signs of cognitive and behavioural inflexibility, which functionally limit individuals and are present in a wide range of conditions [1,2]. Public Health 2021, 18, Autism is a neuropsychological developmental disorder that causes qualitative impairments in interaction, communication and social imagination, and signs of cognitive and behavioural inflexibility, which functionally limit individuals and are present in a wide range of conditions [1,2] The diagnosis of this disorder usually occurs during childhood, causing trauma for parents, often leading to a range of negative feelings (e.g., fear, worry, guilt, etc.) and psychological repercussions, such as stigma of association (or self-stigma), which consists as an extension of the concept by suffering rejection and marginalisation [3,4]. The aim of the present study will be to test the factorial structure of the scale (Appendix A) to assess the self-stigma of relatives of people with autism
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