Development and Psychometric Validation of the Breast Cancer Stigma Assessment Scale for Women with Breast Cancer and Its Survivors Cenit-García, Judit Buendia-Gilabert, Carolina Contreras Molina, Carmen Puente Fernández, Daniel Fernández Castillo, Rafael García Caro, María Paz Breast neoplasms Cancer Social stigma Patients Cancer survivors Validation study This study includes results from the doctoral thesis of the first author. Our thanks go out to the Research Support Unit of the Hospital Virgen de las Nieves and the Hospital Vall de Hebrón. Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/healthcare12040420/s1 Background: The increase in breast cancer cases and breast cancer survival makes it advisable to quantify the impact of the health-related stigma of this disease. Purpose/Objectives: To develop and validate a breast cancer stigma scale in Spanish. Methods: Women diagnosed with, or survivors of, breast cancer were included. The development of the Breast Cancer Stigma Assessment Scale (BCSAS) involved both a literature review and personal interviews. Content validity was assessed using a Delphi study and a pilot test; construct validity was evaluated using an exploratory factor analysis; and convergent validity was assessed using six scales. Cronbach’s α internal consistency and test-retest reliability were used to determine the reliability of the scales. Results: 231 women responded to the 28-item scale. The BCSAS showed good reliability, with α = 0.897. Seven factors emerged: concealment (α = 0.765), disturbance (α = 0.772), internalized stigma (α = 0.750), aesthetics (α = 0.779), course (α = 0.599), danger (α = 0.502), and origin (α = 0.350). The test-retest reliability was 0.830 (p < 0.001). Significant correlation was observed with event centrality (r = 0.701), anxiety–depression (r = 0.668), shame (r = 0.645), guilt (r = 0.524), and quality of life (r = −0.545). Conclusions: The BCSAS is a reliable and valid measure of stigma in women with breast cancer and its survivors. It could be useful for detecting stigma risk and establishing psychotherapeutic and care priorities. 2024-04-30T11:30:49Z 2024-04-30T11:30:49Z 2024-02-06 journal article Cenit-García, J.; Buendia- Gilabert, C.; Contreras-Molina, C.; Puente-Fernández, D.; Fernández- Castillo, R.; García-Caro, M.P. Development and Psychometric Validation of the Breast Cancer Stigma Assessment Scale for Women with Breast Cancer and Its Survivors. Healthcare 2024, 12, 420. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12040420 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/91284 10.3390/healthcare12040420 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License MDPI