Validation of the Mental Illness Sexual Stigma Questionnaire (MISS-Q) in a sample of Brazilian adults in psychiatric care

摘要

Objective We evaluated the psychometric properties of a new instrument a??Mental Illness Sexual Stigma Questionnairea?? (MISS-Q). Methods We interviewed 641 sexually active adults (ages 18-80) attending public outpatient psychiatric clinics in Rio de Janeiro about their stigma experiences. Results Nine factors were extracted through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and labeled: a??individual discrimination by othersa??; a??staff willingness to talk about sexualitya??; a??staff and family prohibitionsa??; a??sexual devaluation of selfa??; a??perceived attractivenessa??; a??mental illness concealmenta??; a??perceived sexual role competencea??; a??withdrawala??; and a??locus of social-sexual controla??. a??Withdrawala?? and a??locus of social-sexual controla?? showed poor psychometric properties and were excluded from further analysis. The remaining seven factors had high factorial loadings (.39 to .86), varying from sufficient to optimal reliability (Ordinal ?± ranged from .57 to .88), and good convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusions The resulting MISS-Q is the first instrument assessing mental illness sexual stigma with demonstrated psychometric properties. It may prove useful in reducing stigma, protecting sexual health, and promoting recovery.