Translation and Validation of an Italian Language Version of the Religious Beliefs and Mental Illness Stigma Scale (I-RBMIS)

The aim of this study is to validate the Italian version of the Religious Beliefs
and Mental Illness Stigma Scale (I-RBMIS): a self-report measure of religious
beliefs that may contribute to stigma regarding mental disorders. Scale validation
included: linguistic validation; pilot test for understandability; face validity; factor analysis as test of dimensionality; Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin test to evaluate sample
sampling adequacy; internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha; scale
validity was assessed through concurrent criterion validity using as gold standard the
Italian version of Attribution Questionnaire 27 and mental health knowledge schedule; A total of 311 people agreed to participate in the study. Face validity showed
that 13 items out of 16 were completely understandable while only three items (4,
9 and 13) highlighted small lexical concerns. The average compilation time was
under 4 min. Bartlett’s test for sphericity was statistically signifcant (Χ2= 1497.54;
df= 120; p< 0.001). Cronbach’s alpha values were acceptable both for the entire
questionnaire (0.80) and for the morality/sin subscale (0.73), whereas it was slightly
below the standard cutof for the spiritually oriented causes/treatments (0.68). Scale
validity showed a positive correlation between I-RBMIS and AQ-27-I, and a negative correlation between I-RBMIS and MAKS-I. I-RBMIS demonstrated good psychometric properties to assess stigmatizing religious beliefs toward mental illness in
general population.