RESEARCH ARTICLE Re-Validation of the Van Rie HIV/AIDS- Related Stigma Scale for Use with People Living with HIV in the United States

There is little consensus about which of the many validated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) stigma scales should be regularly used, with few being re-validated in different con-texts or evaluated for how they compare to other, existing HIV stigma scales. The purpose of this exploratory study was to re-validate the Van Rie HIV/AIDS-Related Stigma Scale, originally validated in Thailand and using a third-person wording structure, for use with peo-ple living with HIV in the United States. Adult HIV clinic patients completed a survey includ-ing the Berger and Van Rie scales, and measures of social support and depression. Eighty-five of 211 (40%) eligible participants provided data for both stigma scales. Exploratory fac-tor analyses identified three factors to the Van Rie scale: Loss of Social Relationships (new subscale), Managing HIV Concealment (new subscale), and Perceived Community Stigma (original subscale). These subscales were moderately inter-related (r = 0.51 to 0.58) with acceptable to excellent reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.69 to 0.90). The Van Rie subscales were also moderately inter-correlated with the Berger subscales (r = 0.44 to 0.76), had simi-lar construct validity, and tended to have higher mean stigma scores when compared wit