Validity and Reliability of the Iranian Version of the HIV/AIDS Stigma Instrument-PLWHA (HASI-P)

HIV/AIDS disease has remained highly stigmatized all over the world even though the increasing accessibility of its treatment. This study was designed to adapt the HIV/AIDS Stigma Instrument (HASI) to the Iranian People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Translation -back translation of the scale into Persian was done. Then, the validity and reliability of the instrument were evaluated. The validity of the translated scale was assessed in three ways: evaluating its linguistic validity, assessing its content validity by a panel of nine experts, and exploring its construct validity by factor analysis. The internal con-sistency of the translated scale was evaluated by Cronbach's Alpha. HASI showed a good Content Validity Index (CVI value >0.75) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR >0.78). The internal consistency of the instrument regarding the total score was α=0.89. The three stigma sub-scales that were dis-tancing and blaming (8 items, α=0.87), fear (3 items, α=0.82), and discrimination (5 items, α=0.83). This article reports the development and validation of a new measure of stigma, i.e. HIV/AIDS Stigma Instrument in PLWHA (HASI-P), and pro-vides evidence to support its content validity and internal consistency.