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Validation of a short instrument to measure stigmatised attitudes towards mental illness

The Taylor Centre, Queensway House, Essex Street, Southend on Sea, Essex SS41RB, e-mail: s1006h3607{at}blueyonder.co.uk

Daniel Fekadu, Specialist Registrar in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Maudsley Hospital, London

Okon Umoh, Locum Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Child and Family Service, Southend on Sea, Essex

John Gallagher, Senior Lecturer in Nursing Studies

The Taylor Centre, Southend on Sea, Essex

Declaration of interest

None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgement.

AIMS AND METHOD

One of the steps to change stigmatised attitudes involves identifying the concerns of people whose attitude is to be changed. This paper presents the Attitudes to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ), a short instrument aimed at systematically obtaining this information, and examines the feasibility, test–retest reliability as well as face and construct validity of the AMIQ on the UK general public. A postal survey of a random sample of 1079 adults was conducted. A self-reported questionnaire with 5-point Likert scale responses was validated in response to short fictional vignettes. A second subsample of 256 was used for a reliability test.

RESULTS

The AMIQ is a short instrument with good psychometric properties. It shows good stability, test–retest reliability, alternative test reliability, face, construct and criterion validity. The self-selecting sample of 1079 UK adults showed highly stigmatised attitudes to people with addictive disorders but more positive attitudes to those with depression or self-harm. Results from a smaller follow-up sample showed that attitudes towards people with alcohol dependence and schizophrenia were intermediate.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

The AMIQ can be used in various medical and mental health stigma research and intervention settings.

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