Validation of a dementia diagnosis attitude scale in simplified Chinese with Mandarin-speaking adults in Australia

Objectives: Validated scales assessing dementia attitudes in Chinese populations are needed to understand the extent and nature of stigma in communities, design appropriate sociocultural interventions and assess their impact. This study was aimed at translating and validating an Australian version of the 12-item dementia diagnosis attitude scale in simplified Chinese. Methods: Following a forward and backward translation process, including pretesting with community members, the final version was administered to Mandarin speaking adults aged 18 years or older in Australia (n = 325). We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and internal consistency reliability testing. Results: The final version had 10 items covering a two-factor structure of five items each (‘fear of labelling’ and ‘fear of losing face’) with high reliability (α =.90). Conclusions: The simplified Chinese dementia diagnosis attitude scale (SC-DDAS) is robust for use with Chinese populations in Australia. Future studies can extend on this work to determine further psychometric properties of the 10-item scale and assess its utility in informing and evaluating community interventions.