Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Assessment of an Arabic Version of the Health Care Provider HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale

Abstract

HIV stigma among health care providers in the Arab world is understudied due to a lack of valid and reliable measures. Data from 352 Egyptian physicians was used to validate an Arabic version of the Health Care Provider HIV/AIDS Stigma Scale (HPASS). Exploratory factor analysis (n = 1 9 4) suggested a 3 -factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis (n = 1 5 8) validated the three-factor solution with 18 items, which explained 5 3.3 6% of the variance. All items loaded on their designated constructs, which ranged from 0.58 to 0.82 (prejudice) to 0.58 to 0.66 (stereotypes) and 0.52 to 0.91 (discrimination). The prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination subscales consisted of seven, five, and six items, respectively. The internal consistency (α = 0.9 0) and the test-retest reliability demonstrated (r = 0.9 5) were excellent. The cultural adaptation of the Arabic version of HPASS suggests that it is a suitable scale for assessing HIV stigma among Arab health care providers.