Measuring Attitudes Towards Schizophrenia and Psychosis: Investigating the Prevalence of Stigma.

Thirkettle, Claire (2024) Measuring Attitudes Towards Schizophrenia and Psychosis: Investigating the Prevalence of Stigma. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Aims: This thesis portfolio focuses on public attitudes towards schizophrenia. The systematic review explored the way in which the Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-27) has been translated and culturally adapted to measure mental illness stigma. The empirical paper used Twitter to compare attitudes towards the terms schizophrenia and psychosis.

Methods: The systematic review identified all studies using a translated version of the AQ-27 to measure stigma towards schizophrenia. We assessed the quality of the original translation processes using the COSMIN Study Design Checklist. We also extracted data relating to the psychometric properties of the translated measures. The empirical paper sampled Tweets (n=500) containing the terms ‘schizophrenia’, ‘schizophrenic’, ‘psychosis’ or ‘psychotic’. Quantitative content analysis was used to investigate the prevalence and type of stigmatising attitudes within Tweets.

Results: Forty-one studies using a translated version of the AQ-27 were included in the systematic review, including eleven languages. The methodological quality of the translation processes was variable. The Turkish, Italian and Arabic translations were rated highest for methodological quality. The empirical paper found that stigma was significantly more prevalent in Tweets using the terms psychosis/tic (70.9%) than Tweets using the terms schizophrenia/c (42.4%). Additionally, stigma was significantly more prevalent in Tweets using adjective terms (76.6%) than Tweets using nouns (36.4%).

Conclusions: Several translations of the AQ-27 have been produced. Various standardised translation frameworks are available to ensure that translated measures are valid and equivalent in the target culture. Psychosis was more frequently stigmatised on Twitter than schizophrenia. If schizophrenia is to be renamed, psychosis may not be a suitable replacement.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	07 Nov 2024 09:13
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2024 09:13
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/97549
DOI:

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