ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1671589
This article is part of the Research TopicEmerging Perspectives in Psychiatry: Innovations and Insights from Early Career ResearchersView all 4 articles
Psychometric properties and validation of the Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers in Slovenia
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
- 2Heim Pal Gyermekkorhaz, Budapest, Hungary
- 3Univerzitetni klinicni center Ljubljana Pediatricna klinika, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- 4Univerzitetna psihiatricna klinika Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- 5Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, SloveniaUniversity of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Background: Mental health-related stigma among healthcare professionals is a well-documented global concern, contributing to delayed help-seeking, suboptimal treatment adherence, and poorer patient outcomes. In Slovenia, despite growing public and policy efforts to reduce stigma, no validated instrument existed to measure such attitudes among healthcare providers. Objective: We aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the Slovenian version of the Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC). Methods: A diverse sample of 280 Slovenian healthcare professionals completed the OMS-HC. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were used to assess the structure of the scale, and reliability was examined through model-based indices, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability. Convergent validity was evaluated using the MICA-4 scale. Results: Initial confirmatory factor analysis indicated poor model fit for the original 15-item, three-factor model. Subsequent exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the use of either a 12-or 14-item version. Both demonstrated strong general factor reliability (OmegaH > 0.69; ECV ≈ 0.60), with the 12-item version offering slightly better model fit, while the 14-item version retained broader conceptual content. Test–retest reliability was good for the total score and good to moderate for the subscales. Moderate positive correlations with the MICA-4 scale confirmed convergent validity. Conclusions: The Slovenian OMS-HC shows good psychometric properties in both its 12-and 14-item formats and is suitable for assessing stigma among healthcare professionals. We recommend the 12-item version for research contexts where parsimony is prioritized, and the 14-item version when broader clinical coverage is needed. Its validation addresses an important methodological gap in Slovenia and provides a reliable tool for stigma monitoring and intervention planning.
Keywords: Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC), mental health-related stigma, Psychometric validation, Bifactor Model, Slovenia, healthcare professionals, Stigma assessment, Cross-cultural adaptation
Received: 23 Jul 2025; Accepted: 16 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Őri, Mirkovic and Rus Prelog. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dorottya Őri, oridorottya@gmail.com
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