Universität zu Köln

Stopic, Vasilija ORCID: 0009-0004-9395-6737 (2024). Parkinson’s Disease Stigma Questionnaire (PDStigmaQuest): Development and Validation of a Questionnaire for Assessing Stigma in Patients With Parkinson’s Disease. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients often have to face stigma due to their diagnosis and the associated motor and non-motor symptoms, e.g., tremor, rigidity, and dribbling of saliva. The primary aim of this doctoral thesis was to develop, test, and validate a holistic self-reported questionnaire to measure stigma of PD patients specifically. Additionally, in preparation for future studies investigating stigma effects in German-language cohorts, another objective was the cross-cultural adaption of the Parkinson’s UK Scale of Perceived Control (PUKSoPC) into German language to enable investigating a potential mediating effect of perceived control concerning stigma. The development and testing of the preliminary version of the new stigma questionnaire were addressed in a pilot study. The development of the so-called Parkinson’s Disease Stigma Questionnaire (PDStigmaQuest) in German language resulted in a preliminary, self-reported questionnaire consisting of 28 items. Pilot testing of the preliminary version provided evidence for its feasibility, comprehensibility, appropriate acceptability, and good internal consistency. Based on pilot study results, the preliminary PDStigmaQuest was modified. The validation of the modified 25-item PDStigmaQuest was addressed in a validation study involving PD patients and healthy controls. An exploratory factor analysis produced the factors of felt stigma, hiding, enacted stigma: rejection, and enacted stigma: patronization. Besides, the optional work domain was retained so that the final PDStigmaQuest consisted of 18 items in five domains. Study results suggested an appropriate acceptability, high internal consistency, high test-retest reliability, sufficient construct validity, high convergent validity, and adequate known-groups validity of the final PDStigmaQuest. The intercultural adaptation of the English PUKSoPC in German language was conducted by four bilingual neuroscientists. Testing of the final German PUKSoPC on 50 PD patients did not encounter content-related or linguistic difficulties. Findings gathered through the application of the PDStigmaQuest will not only enhance our understanding of PD stigma but could also build the basis for stigma interventions, improving the management of PD in the future.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Stopic, Vasilija vasilija.stopic@uk-koeln.de orcid.org/0009-0004-9395-6737 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-782974
Date:	2024
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Human Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Human Sciences > Department Psychologie
Subjects:	Psychology Medical sciences Medicine
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Parkinson's disease English Stigma English Questionnaire development English Intercultural adaptation English
Date of oral exam:	27 March 2025
Referee:	Name Academic Title Vossel, Simone Prof. Dr. Barbe, Michael T. Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/78297