Internal Consistency, Dimensionality and Reproducibility of Two Scales for Mental Disorder Stigma-Discrimination Among Students of Medicine

Abstract

Introduction. Both Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS) and Mental Illness: Clinicians Attitudes (MICA) are tools for exploring stigma-discrimination related to mental disorders. Spanish translations are now available; however, it is unknown their internal consistency. The research Objective was to explore the internal consistency and correlation between MAKS and MICA in students of medicine at Santa Marta, Colombia. Materials and Methods. A psychometric study was designed. A sample of 507 students, aged between 18 and 39 years (M=21.0, SD=2.9), 56.5 % were females, 65.3 % studied in a private university, and 50.1 % were taking basic medicine courses. Participants completed the MAKS and MICA, which are 12 and 16-item scales, respectively. Both scales offer Likerttype options of answer from strongly agree to disagree strongly. Results. Internal consistency (Cronbach alpha and McDonald omega) and correlation between MAKS and MICA were computed. The MAKS showed Cronbach alpha of 0.62 and McDonald omega of 0.77, and the MICA presented Cronbach alpha of 0.51 and McDonald omega of 0.33. The reproducibility of the MICA was r=0.44 and ICC of 0.61, and the MAKS, rs= 0.44 and ICC of 0.60. As Conclusions, the MAKS presents acceptable internal consistency and reproducibility; however, the MICA shows poor performance. It is recommended to use MAKS to measure stigma-discrimination related to mental disorders among medical students in Santa Marta, Colombia. MICA items need a strong review for the Spanish version.