Measuring Mental Illness Stigma Among Hispanics: A Systematic Review

Stigma toward mental illness is a complex construct that impacts people's desire to seek mental health care and engage in treatment. Certain groups. including ethnic minorities, are disproportionately impacted by the effects of stigma. Among Hispanics, stigma has been found to be negatively associated with the desire to engage in mental health care, management of depression symptoms, disclosure of mental illness to family and friends, and adherence to antidepressant medications. The purpose of this systematic review was to gather and synthesize the psychometric research on measures of mental illness stigma used with Hispanic populations. Fifteen studies were included in the review that utilized 13 unique mental illness stigma measures. Results demonstrate the limited reporting of psychometric properties of mental illness stigma measures among Hispanic populations. Among the included studies. stigma measurement varies greatly and given the limited use of the measures, indicates a greater need for psychometric development of culturally relevant measures and/or validation of existing measures. Assessment of barriers to mental health care. including stigma, are critical in eliminating disparities experienced by Hispanics. Future studies should continue to examine the impact that different types of mental illness stigma and appropriately validated measures have on Hispanic population's mental health treatment engagement and retention.