The California Assessment of Stigma Change: A Short Battery to Measure Improvements in the Public Stigma of Mental Illness

• Published in: Community mental health journal Vol. 51; no. 6; pp. 635 - 640
• Main Authors: Corrigan, Patrick W., Gause, Michael, Michaels, Patrick J., Buchholz, Blythe A., Larson, Jonathon E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Attitudes; California; College students; Community and Environmental Psychology; Empowerment; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Health Education; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental Disorders - therapy; Mental health; Mental health care; Middle Aged; Objectives; Original Paper; Outcome Assessment (Health Care); Prejudice; Psychiatry; Psychological Tests; Psychometrics; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Reproducibility of Results; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Social Stigma; Stereotypes; Stigma; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validity; Young Adult; California; Affirming and stigmatizing attitudes; Psychometrics; Outcome assessment; Mental health care seeking; Contact-based anti-stigma program
• ISSN: 0010-3853; 1573-2789
• DOI: 10.1007/s10597-014-9797-5

Contact-based anti-stigma programs delivered by people with lived experience yields stigma change. This study examined psychometrics and sensitivity of the California Assessment of Stigma Change (CASC). CASC assesses prejudicial beliefs, affirming attitudes, and willingness to seek mental healthcare. Four samples, two high school groups, college students, and hotel desk clerks, completed CASC immediately before and after a contact-based program. Two samples completed follow-up: one of the high school groups and the college students. CASC assesses stigma with a 9-item Attribution Questionnaire (AQ9), personal empowerment with a 3-item scale (ES), recovery orientation with a 3-item scale (RS), and psychological help seeking willingness with a 6-item questionnaire (CSQ). Internal consistencies ranged adequate to satisfactory for AQ9, ES, and CSQ. Concurrent validity was partially supported. Change sensitivity was demonstrated among at least half of each construct’s analyses. CASC seems a psychometrically valid way to efficiently monitor attitudinal and care seeking intentions changes. Outcome monitoring can strengthen contact-based anti-stigma programs, an emerging evidence-based practice.