Validation and Reliability Study of the Turkish Version of the Neuroquality of Life (Neuro-QoL) - Stigma Scale in Neurological Disorders

Abstract

Background/aim: Stigma can be defined as a negative perception of chronically ill patients by their relatives or by society, or a similar self-perception by the patients themselves. We aimed to validate the Turkish version of the Neuroquality of Life (Neuro-QoL) - Stigma Scale for neurologic diseases. Materials and Methods: Forms were filled out total 152 randomized patients under regular follow-up in the outpatient clinic (29 polyneuropathies, 25 epilepsy, 23 strokes, 24 tension-type headache, 28 multiple sclerosis, 27 Parkinson?s disease). The forms consisted of Beck depression inventory (BDI), Beck anxiety inventory (BAI), WHOQOL-BREF quality of life scale, the multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS), the general self-efficacy (GSE) scale, and Neuro-QoL-stigma scale. Results: The internal consistency of the Neuro-QoL-Stigma scale showed Cronbach?s ? coefficients of 0.95 for all groups. The mean scores stigma scales were 33.42 ±13.91 (min-max: 24-87). There are strong negative correlations between high stigma score and GSE-T, MSPSS-T, WHOQOL-BREF; and positive correlation with BDI and BAI. Conclusion: The Turkish version Neuro-QoL-Stigma has satisfactory content validity and high internal consistency. The Neuro-QoL-Stigma is suitable to understand stigmatization in different neurological disorders in the Turkish population. The scale is available for use at http://www.healthmeasures.net/explore-measurement-systems/neuro-qol