Date of Award

2011-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Clinical Psychology

Advisor(s)

John S. Wiebe

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Efforts to increase the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) as well as prevention efforts have recently focused on HIV-related stigma. Sayles et al. (2008) developed the Multidimensional Measure or Internalized HIV Stigma (MMIHS), a measure of HIV-related stigma that is sensitive to minorities, women, and people with limited income. This study evaluated the four-factor structure presented by Sayles et al. (2008) on data collected from 269 HIV–positive individuals, and also validated a Spanish translation of the measure using a measurement invariance method. In addition to stigma, this study also collected information regarding depressive symptoms, HIV disclosure, attitudes towards disclosure and perceived social support. Concurrent validity was assessed by correlating the MMIHS with a measure of depression and yielded a significant and positive relationship in both languages. The fourth factor proposed by Sayles et al. (2008) was not identified in this sample in either language. The proposed four-factor structure was found to be a good fit for the Spanish group and a slightly bad fit for the English one. The Spanish version of the MMIHS was found invariant to the original English version.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

58 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Elsa Martin

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