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Adapting a Stigma Scale for Assessment of Tuberculosis-Related Stigma Among English/Swahili-Speaking Patients in an African Setting.

Abstract

To adapt a validated instrument that quantitatively measures stigma among English/Swahili-speaking tuberculosis (TB) patients in Kenya, a high-burden TB country. Following ethical approval, we elicited feedback on the English- and Swahili-translated Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness (SSCI) tools through cognitive interviews. We assessed difficulties in translation, differences in meaning, TB contextual relevance, patients’ acceptability to the questions, and issues in tool structure. The interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed, and translated. Open coding and thematic analysis of the data were conducted by 2 independent researchers. Between May and September 2015 we conducted a qualitative study among 20 adult TB patients attending 11 health facilities in Nairobi County, Kenya. Most questions were understood in both English and Swahili, deemed relevant in the context of TB, and acceptable to TB patients. Key areas of adaptation of the SSCI included adding questions addressing fear of infecting others and death, HIV stigma, and intimate, family, and workplace relationship contexts. Questions were revised for nonredundancy, specificity, and optimized sequence. The adapted 8-item SSCI appears to be a useful tool that may be administered by health workers in English or Swahili to quantify TB stigma among TB patients in Kenya. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

More information

Type
Journal Article
Author
Marangu D
Mwaniki H
Nduku S
Maleche-Obimbo E
Jaoko W
Babigumira J
John-Stewart G
Rao D

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