An HIV-related stigma scale for health care workers needs to be multidimensional in that it should encompass attitudes that
might be experienced by the general public about people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) (e.g., fear, shame, blame) and, further,
specifically capture perceptions of appropriate professional care and medical responsibilities regarding PLWHA. A 17-item,
5-factor multidimensional HIV-related stigma scale was developed and validated using both exploratory and confirmatory factor
analysis among 1,101 service providers in China. The sample was divided into a development sample (
N = 551) and a validation sample (
N = 550). The fit of the final confirmatory factor model with five hypothesized subscales was excellent in both samples. The
final stigma subscales included: Discrimination Intent at Work, Opinion about Health Care for HIV/AIDS Patients, Prejudiced
Attitudes, Internalized Shame, and Fear of PLWHA.
Keywords HIV/AIDS stigma - Scale development - Confirmatory factor analysis - China - Service providers