Abstract

The objectives of the study were to develop an indigenous Social Stigma Scale in Urdu language for the parents of children with special needs and by establishing the psychometric properties of indigenously developed Social Stigma Scale.The study was divided into two phases: In phase 1, indigenous Social Stigma Scale was developed while in Phase 2, psychometric properties of scale were established. Goffman theory of Stigma and Semi-structured interviews with parents of children with special needs were used for items generation. After expert evaluation, 63 items were administered on 30 parents in pilot testing. For field study sample of 500 participants were recruited by using Purposive sampling. EFA was fixed to six factor structure with 41 items. CFA yielded 20 item scale with Cronbach alpha of 0.94. Results of Test-retest reliability, divergent and convergent validity indicates the scale as a valid and reliable measure of social stigma for parents of children with special needs. The study has implications in clinical and counseling field.

Key words: Social Stigma Scale, Parents of Children with Special Needs, Psychometric Properties