Lin, Chung-Ying

Background: Dementia is prevalent among older adults and frequently causes dependence on family caregivers. Caregivers may experience a form of stigmatization called affiliate stigma that negatively affects their mental health. The current study sought to establish the psychometric properties of a tool to measure affiliate stigma among Iranian caregivers. Methods: Overall, 541 caregivers of older people with dementia were included in this cross sectional study.

People with mental illness and their family caregivers often perceive public stigma, which may lead to stigma-related stress (or stigma stress). However, no instruments have been developed to measure this stress for family caregivers of people with mental illness. We modified an instrument that measures the stigma stress of people with mental illness (i.e., the cognitive appraisal of stigma as a stressor) and examined the psychometric properties of the scores of the newly developed instrument: the Family Stigma Stress Scale (FSSS).

Introduction: To examine the psychometric properties of different short versions of the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), and to find an efficient and valid short version for clinical use among dementia caregivers.; Materials and Methods: A total of 270 Taiwanese dementia caregivers filled out the full form of the ZBI, which contains 22 items. Using the 22-item ZBI, we used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to calculate the fit indices of all proposed short versions with various items to determine useful short versions.

The family caregivers of people with mental illness may internalize the public stereotypes into the affiliate stigma (i.e., the self-stigma of family members). This study aimed to compare the affiliate stigma across schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder, and to investigate potential factors associated with affiliate stigma.