02073nas a2200193   4500000000100000008004100001100001300042700001300055700002200068700001600090700001300106245006500119856007600184300001200260490000600272050001400278520157300292022001401865       2014                            d1 aMoya E M1 aBiswas A1 aChávez Baray S M1 aMartínez O1 aLomeli B00aAssessment of stigma associated with tuberculosis in Mexico.  uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286806/pdf/nihms650899.pdf  a226-2320 v4  aMOYA 20153 a<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>Stigma is a major barrier to health care access and impacts the quality of life for individuals affected by tuberculosis (TB). Assessing TB stigma is essential to addressing health disparities. However, no such instrument was available in Mexico at the time of our study. This study examined the adaptability of the TB and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) stigma scales previously used in Thailand.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>The original scale, developed in English, was linguistically adapted to Spanish and administered to 217 individuals affected by TB in five states in Mexico. The TB-HIV stigma subscales were designed to assess individual and community perspectives. Additional data collected included general information and socio-demographics. Assessment of psychometric properties included basic statistical tests, evaluation of Cronbach's alpha and factor analysis.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>We found no significant statistical differences associated with higher stigma scores by location, age, marital status, education and stigma scores. Factor analysis did not create any new factors. Internal consistency reliability coefficients were satisfactory (Cronbach α = 0.876-0.912).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>The use of the stigma scales has implications for 1) health improvements, 2) research on stigma and health disparities, and 3) TB and HIV stigma interventions. Further research is needed to examine transferability among larger and randomly selected Spanish-speaking populations.</p>
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