Development and Psychometric Validation of a Scale Measuring Stigma Toward People with Disabilities in the Adult Population

Background: Disability stigma can restrict participation and access to opportunities, yet culturally specific measures of public disability stigma remain limited in Peru. Objective: To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a Spanish-language scale assessing public stigma toward persons with disabilities among adults in Juliaca, Peru. Method: A cross-sectional instrumental study was conducted with a non-probability convenience sample of 1,065 adults from Juliaca, Peru. Six experts assessed content validity using Aiken’s V. The sample was divided into mutually exclusive development (n = 533) and confirmatory (n = 532) subsamples. Exploratory factor analysis used polychoric correlations, MINRES extraction, and Promax rotation; competing confirmatory models were estimated with WLSMV. Internal consistency, average variance extracted (AVE), composite reliability, HTMT, and measurement invariance across sex were examined. Results: Content validity was strong (Aiken’s V = .96–1.00). Parallel analysis favored two factors, whereas the four-factor exploratory solution showed the strongest relative multidimensional fit and explained 62.6% of the variance. In the confirmatory sample, the empirical four-factor model showed the strongest relative fit, χ²(164) = 902.79, CFI = .935, TLI = .924, RMSEA = .092, SRMR = .051. Reliability was acceptable to good; HTMT indicated limited differentiation between two factors (.924). Metric invariance across sex was supported. Conclusions: The scale showed promising preliminary psychometric evidence in adults from Juliaca. Further refinement and independent replication are needed before broader application in disability and rehabilitation research.