International journal of behavioral medicine
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Multicenter Study
The stigma scale for chronic illnesses 8-item version (SSCI-8): development, validation and use across neurological conditions.
Although the impact of stigma has been highlighted for epileptic populations, the experiences of people living with other neurological conditions have been less studied. ⋯ Preliminary evidence suggests that the Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness 8-item version fits a unidimensional model, which assesses enacted and internalised stigma, and has adequate internal consistency/reliability and validity in relation to psychological distress and patient performance. Our results suggest fairly low stigma for neurological populations. In addition, our results suggest that stigma may be more severe for patients with ALS relative to those with MS and PD. In the future, the SSCI-8 scale could be used practically in clinic settings to examine stigma without the patient burden associated with lengthier scales.