The Stigma Resistance Scale for people with mental illness: Transcultural adaption and validation of the Chinese version

The understanding of stigma resistance and its prevalence is limited due to the limitation of existing measures. This study aims to modify the Stigma Resistance Scale (SRS) and assess the psychometric properties of Chinese patients with mental illness. Seven experts were invited to assess the content validity of the Chinese version of the SRS (C-SRS), which has been translated and adapted into Chinese. Convenience samples were included from two psychiatric hospitals and three community healthcare centers in Beijing, China. A total of 484 patients completed the survey from November 2020 to July 2021. Samples were randomized into two parts exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). EFA (n = 242) yielded three factors with Cronbach's alpha of 0.932 for the total scale, and 0.835, 0.877, and 0.858 for the subscales. CFA (n = 242) revealed good model fit (chi(2)/df = 2.190, RMSEA = 0.070). The domain-total correlation scores were 0.834-0.939. The correlation coefficient of test-retest ranged from 0.726 to 0.887. The correlation coefficient between the C-SRS and Stigma Resistance subscale of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale was 0.399. This study found that the C-SRS has evidence of excellent reliability and validity for assessing stigma resistance. It could be used in Chinese people with mental illness to identify and address stigma resistance.