Abstract

UPEGUI-ARANGO, Luz Dary  and  OROZCO, Luis Carlos. Stigma towards tuberculosis: psychometric validation of an instrument for its measurement. An. Fac. med. [online]. 2019, vol.80, n.1, pp.12-20. ISSN 1025-5583.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15381/anales.v80i1.15656.

Introduction. The stigma towards tuberculosis affects the search for timely medical care and adherence to treatment for fear of family, social or institutional rejection. Objective. To validate an instrument to measure the stigma towards tuberculosis applying Rasch methodology. Methods. Cross-sectional study. The analysis was based on the aspects suggested by Messick and operationalized by Wolfe and Smith with Rasch methodology; the dichotomous model was used, where adjustment estimates of the items, coherence in the measure, separation and reliability indices, invariance, unidimensionality and the person item relation were evaluated. Results. 250 people were interviewed, 195 without tuberculosis and 55 with tuberculosis. Thirty-five items were evaluated, of which 10 were excluded for showing mismatches and differential functioning of the item. Twenty-five valid items with appropriate adjustments between 0,5 and 1,5, correlation >0,3, percentage of coherence >40% and measurement invariance in important exogenous variables were obtained. The separation index in the items was 6,5 and reliability of 0,98. In individuals was 1,51 and 0,69 respectively. Conclusions. A valid instrument with unidimensional measure of the stigma towards tuberculosis for use in the general population and patients with tuberculosis was obtained, supported by the statistical rigor of the Rasch model.

Keywords : Social Stigma; Tuberculosis; Validation Studies.

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