Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine
COSMIN systematic review of stigma measurement in smoking, COPD, and lung cancer: content analysis, language audit, and psychometrics
By Ahmad S, Gartner C, Richards B and 4 others.
Abstract
Background
Stigma associated with smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer is prevalent and can cause distress and delayed treatment-seeking. Interventions to reduce stigma are becoming more widespread and a variety of stigma scales have been developed, but it is unknown how psychometrically sound and appropriately worded they are.
Purpose
To (1) systematically identify scales that measure stigma in people who smoke, or those living with COPD or lung cancer; (2) analyze the content of items and language used; and (3) evaluate their psychometric properties.
Methods
PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched to identify quantitative scales measuring stigma in smoking, COPD, or lung cancer. The Lung Cancer Stigma Communications Assessment Tool was used to assess whether the scales contained language that could exacerbate stigma amongst participants. The COSMIN tool was used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scales.