Confirmatory Factor Analysis of a Questionnaire Measure of Managerial Stigma Towards Employee Depression

Abstract

Managers' attitudes play a key role in how organizations respond to employees with depression. We examine the measurement properties of a questionnaire designed to assess managerial stigma towards employees with depression. Using data from a sample of 469 Australian managers representing a wide range of industries and work settings, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to assess three proposed subscales representing affective, cognitive and behavioural forms of stigma. Results were equivocal indicating acceptable fit for two-factor (affective and cognitive + behavioural), three-factor (affective, cognitive and behavioural) and higher order models. Failure to demonstrate the discriminant validity of the cognitive and behavioural dimensions, even though they are theoretically distinct, suggests that further work on the scale is warranted. These results provide an extension to the psychometric profile of this measure (exploratory factor analysis; Martin, ). Development of strategies to operationalize this construct will benefit occupational health research and practice, particularly in interventions that aim to reduce the stigma of mental health issues in the workplace or where managers' attitudes are a key mechanism in intervention efficacy. We encourage future research on this measure pertaining in particular to further enhancing all aspects of its construct validity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Instruments to assess mental health‐related stigma among health professionals and students in health sciences: A systematic psychometric review

“…This is a questionnaire designed to assess managerial stigma towards employees with depression using data from a sample of managers (Martin & Giallo, ).…”

In What Ways Does Health Related Stigma Affect Sustainable Employment and Well-Being at Work? A Systematic Review

“…Since we have found that stakeholders outside the direct work context, such as health care professionals [15,[91][92][93][94], reintegration professionals [62], customers [56], family and friends [91], also play an important role, more research is needed on the stigmatizing attitudes and behaviours of these stakeholders and on how it affects sustainable employment and well-being at work. The findings of this review can contribute to extending theoretical knowledge in order to develop validated measures of health related stigma by different stakeholders, contextualized in the work context, as these are scarce [122] but much needed to evaluate the consequences of health related stigma for sustainable employment and well-being at work [8].…”

Social stigma is an underestimated contributing factor to unemployment in people with mental illness or mental health issues: position paper and future directions

“…policy reviews) are needed. Moreover, there is currently a limited availability of validated measures of mental health stigma that have been contextualized to the workplace setting [57], which are a prerequisite for high-quality research. It is important that specific measures for the work context be developed, as specific measures will better enable the evaluation of the consequences of stigma for long-term (un) employment than more general stigma measures.…”

“…Mental disorders are even more prevalent in young people: in OECD countries, approximately one in four 15 to 24 year-olds have a mental disorder, which puts them at a higher risk of dropping out of school and having poorer chances of finding stable employment [1]. A recent epidemiological study investigating the influence of different chronic health problems on loss of employment in workers aged [45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64] showed that workers with selfreported psychological health problems had the highest risk of unemployment. Moreover, compared to workers with other chronic health conditions, they also had a higher risk of other adverse occupational outcomes, such as taking early retirement and exiting the work force via disability benefits and sick leave [6][7][8].…”