Arabic language skin-related stigmatization instruments: Translation and validation process

Background. Skin diseases are frequently the reason for social rejection. Therefore, the assessment of stigmatization level in patients suffering from dermatoses plays a crucial role in providing proper health service. Objectives. The aim of this study was to create and validate Arabic language versions of stigmatization instruments - the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire. Material and methods. Development of the Arabic language versions was done with international standards of forward-back translations. The validation was performed on 39 psoriatic individuals. The group included 11 females and 28 males. The subjects were asked to fill out both questionnaires: the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire (Arabic language versions) at the time of examination and 7 days after enrollment for reassessment to evaluate test-retest reliability. During the first visit the patients additionally filled out an already existing Arabic version of Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), which was used as a reference questionnaire. Results. The results concerning the integrity of instruments were very good, and the Cronbach's a coefficient for both scales was 0.89. The reproducibility level assessed with interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) stood at 0.91 for the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and 0.92 for the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire. There was a strong correlation between total score of the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and DLQI. Significant negative moderate correlation was documented between the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire and DLQI. Moreover, both stigmatization instruments correlated significantly with each other. Conclusions. The developed Arabic language versions of the abovementioned stigmatization instruments can be successfully used in daily clinical practice as well as in clinical research.