# A short version of the post-COVID-19 condition stigma questionnaire

## TL;DR

This study created a shorter 12-item version of a questionnaire to measure stigma in long COVID patients, keeping it reliable and valid.

## Contribution

A shorter, reliable, and valid 12-item version of the Post-COVID-19 Condition Stigma Questionnaire was developed.

## Key findings

- The 12-item version maintains the original 6-factor structure of the stigma construct.
- It shows high internal consistency (α = 0.89) and strong split-half reliability (0.86).
- The instrument correlates predictably with related variables, confirming its validity.

## Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a short version of the 40-item Post-COVID-19 Condition Stigma Questionnaire (PCCSQ) while preserving its factor structure, reliability, and validity. The PCCSQ is a sound tool for assessing the discrimination experienced by people with a diagnosis of long covid, but a shorter version would be less demanding of respondents experiencing fatigue and brain fog and easier for clinicians and researchers to administer.

This was an observational study.

From the original 40-items measuring the 6-factor construct long covid stigma, we assembled 12 items that represented the factors and discriminated among participants with high and low levels of stigma. We administered the shorter questionnaire to 99 long covid patients and assessed several of its measurement properties.

The 12-item instrument maintains the 6-factor structure of long covid stigma, has a mean discrimination index of 0.40 (sd = 0.08; range 0.22–0.48), an internal consistency of α = 0.89, a split-half reliability of 0.86, and it correlates predictably with theoretically-related variables.

The PCCSQ-12 is a feasible, reliable and valid means of assessing patients’ experience of long covid stigma.