Developing a Measure of Stigma by Association With African American Adolescents Whose Mothers Have HIV

Objectives: African American urban adolescents are one of the fastest growing groups of children affected by their mother's HIV status. These children experience HIV stigma by association with their HIV-positive mothers. Stigma may contribute to adverse outcomes for these teens. Methods: The authors describe a multistage process of scale construction, cognitive interviewing, and pilot testing to develop a measure reflecting an African American adolescent's experience of HIV stigma when mother has HIV. Results: The resulting measure has 23 items with good reliability. An additional item suggested by qualitative data will be added to the measure and used in further testing. Conclusions: Potential uses of the measure are discussed. Intervention approaches for reducing stigma's impact among HIV-affected African American adolescents are briefly outlined.