Skip to main content
. 2017 May 30;15:115. doi: 10.1186/s12955-017-0691-z

Table 2.

Factor loadingsa and outfit/infit mean square measuresb for all items in the HIV stigma scale

Items Component Outfit Msqr Infit Msqr
1 2 3 4
39. People seem afraid of me once they learn I have HIV 0.866 0.485 0.511
29. People I care about stopped calling after learning I have HIV 0.864 0.592 0.661
38. People who know I have HIV tend to ignore my good points 0.833 0.530 0.557
28. People avoid touching me once they know I have HIV 0.824 0.654 0.748
35. I have stopped socializing with some people due to their reaction to me having HIV 0.776 0.641 0.702
36. I have lost friends by telling them I have HIV 0.770 0.748 0.869
33. People have physically backed away from me when they learn I have HIV 0.726 0.729 0.735
24. I have been hurt by how people reacted to learning I have HIV 0.721 1.337 1.267
32. People don’t want me around their children once they know I have HIV 0.714 0.975 1.013
30. Some people told me that getting HIV is what I deserve for how I have lived my life 0.700 1.164 1.383
27. As a rule, telling others that I have HIV has been a mistake 0.677 0.344 1.159 1.205
31. Some people close to me are afraid others will reject them if it becomes known that I have HIV 0.671 1.093 1.101
26. I regret having told some people that I have HIV 0.642 0.327 1.680 1.505
34. Some people act as though it’s my fault I have HIV 0.638 1.212 0.881
40. When people learn you have HIV, they look for flaws in your character 0.627 1.262 0.978
18. Some people who know I have HIV have grown more distant 0.604 1.999 1.456
6. I work hard to keep my HIV a secret 0.751 0.580 0.627
17. I am very careful who I tell that I have HIV 0.746 0.637 0.686
1. In many areas of my life, no one knows I have HIV 0.696 1.559 1.142
21. I never feel I need to hide the fact I have HIV (R) 0.575 −0.411 1.334 1.291
4. Telling someone I have HIV is risky 0.614 0.870 0.804
25. I worry people who know I have HIV will tell others 0.362 0.542 0.841 0.858
22. I worry that people may judge me when they learn I have HIV 0.493 0.763 0.733
37. I have told people close to me to keep the fact that I have HIV a secret 0.402 1.333 1.248
15. Having HIV makes me feel that I’m a bad person −0.737 0.667 0.725
7. I feel I’m not as good a person as others because I have HIV -0.698 0.738 0.696
3. People’s attitudes about HIV make me feel worse about myself −0.665 0.762 0.817
8. I never feel ashamed of having HIV (R) -0.654 1.361 1.406
12. Having HIV makes me feel unclean −0.570 0.778 0.790
2. I feel guilty because I have HIV -0.532 1.105 1.022
23. Having HIV in my body is disgusting to me −0.530 0.970 0.991
13. Since learning I have HIV, I feel set apart and isolated from the rest of the world 0.357 −0.484 0.983 0.967
20. Most people are uncomfortable around someone with HIV -0.769 0.550 0.560
9. People with HIV are treated like outcasts −0.639 1.016 0.941
14. Most people think that a person with HIV is disgusting −0.613 0.865 0.806
10. Most people believe a person who has HIV is dirty −0.599 0.734 0.760
16. Most people with HIV are rejected when others find out −0.598 1.049 1.076
5. People with HIV lose their jobs when employers find out −0.477 1.243 1.206
19. Since leardning I have HIV, I worry about people discriminating against me −0.389 0.926 0.837
11. It is easier to avoid new friendship than worry about telling someone that I have HIVc

aFactor component scores are reproduced under the creative common licence CC-BY from our previous work Lindberg MH, Wettergren L, Wiklander M, Svedhem-Johansson V, Eriksson LE. Psychometric Evaluation of the HIV Stigma Scale in a Swedish Context. PloS One. 2014;9(12):e114867 [12]. The analysis was performed on 132 completed questionnaires from persons living with HIV in Sweden

bInfit and outfit Meansquare values calculated through Partial credit models, Item response theory. Infit/outfit msqr values >1.2 were considered to have underfit (bold)

cItem 11 was removed from the Swedish version of the HIV stigma scale, due to low loadings on all factors, and was thus not included in the partial credit model