Development and validation of the Japanese version of the Epilepsy Stigma Scale in adults with epilepsy

•Japanese version of Epilepsy Stigma Scale (ESS-J) was developed.•Japanese version of the ESS consists of 10 items with 2 subscales: enacted and felt stigma.•Japanese version of the ESS has sound internal consistency, and construct and concurrent validity.•Japanese version of the ESS is a useful tool for clinical interpretation and quality-of-life research. Self-stigma is considered to have immensely negative influences on the living and psychological states in patients with epilepsy. Understanding the stigma experienced by patients with epilepsy is essential considering its negative impact on their treatment and quality of life (QOL). However, few sufficiently validated self-report instruments are available to evaluate self-stigma in patients with epilepsy. The Epilepsy Stigma Scale (ESS) is one of the most commonly used self-reported questionnaires available to evaluate self-stigma in patients with epilepsy. The present study translated the ESS into Japanese to validate the Japanese version of the ESS (ESS-J) in Japanese adults with epilepsy. The study included 338 patients with epilepsy (166 men, aged 18–75 years) who underwent comprehensive assessment including long-term video-electroencephalography monitoring, neuroimaging studies, and neuropsychological and psychosocial assessments in the Tohoku University Hospital Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. This study consisted of two phases: (1) translation of the ESS into Japanese using the back-translation technique; and (2) statistical analysis of the ESS-J to evaluate the factor structure, reliability, and validity. The 2-factor model achieved acceptable fit to the data: χ2 = 161.27, df = 34, p