Background: Skin diseases are frequently the reason for social rejection. Therefore, the assessment of stigmatization level in patients suffering from dermatoses plays a crucial role in providing proper health service.; Objectives: The aim of this study was to create and validate Arabic language versions of stigmatization instruments - the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire.; Material and Methods: Development of the Arabic language versions was done with international standards of forward-back translations. The validation was performed on 39 psoriatic individuals. The group included 11 females and 28 males. The subjects were asked to fill out both questionnaires: the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire (Arabic language versions) at the time of examination and 7 days after enrollment for reassessment to evaluate test-retest reliability. During the first visit the patients additionally filled out an already existing Arabic version of Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), which was used as a reference questionnaire.; Results: The results concerning the integrity of instruments were very good, and the Cronbach's α coefficient for both scales was 0.89. The reproducibility level assessed with interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) stood at 0.91 for the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and 0.92 for the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire. There was a strong correlation between total score of the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and DLQI. Significant negative moderate correlation was documented between the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire and DLQI. Moreover, both stigmatization instruments correlated significantly with each other.; Conclusions: The developed Arabic language versions of the abovementioned stigmatization instruments can be successfully used in daily clinical practice as well as in clinical research.;

Dimitrov, D., et al. (2019). "Arabic language skin-related stigmatization instruments: Translation and validation process." Advances In Clinical And Experimental Medicine: Official Organ Wroclaw Medical University 28(6): 825-832.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30740941