What are the DISC & DISCUS scales?
The DISC is an interview-based scale which measures experiences of mental health-related discrimination (‘being treated unfairly’) in key areas of everyday life and social participation, including work, marriage, parenting, housing, leisure, and religious activities. It has 32 questions. The DISC is designed to be completed by people who have experience of mental health problems. It is a reliable and valid measure and has been used in over 60 countries around the world.
The Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC-12) was specifically developed to measure experienced and anticipated discrimination reported by people with mental health problems. However, the length of the DISC-12 may represent a disadvantage especially in country settings with limited human capacity and infrastructure. A short version of DISC-12 was developed –DISCUS– to address these limitations. The DISCUS scale is a consistent and valid instrument to measure experienced and anticipated discrimination predominantly in personal and social relationships in global settings.
For the DISCUS scale ratings are given on a 4-point Likert scale (0=“no difference”, 1 = “a little”, 2 = “moderately”, 3 = “a lot”). Individuals may also indicate that a given item is ‘not applicable’ to them, usually because they had not been in that situation (for example, experiencing discrimination in relation to having a child when the participant did not have any children).We excluded the item‘other’ as it did not to contribute specific information needed for the construction of latent constructs.
Please complete the following survey to get access to the password to be able to download the scales.
Conditions of Use
Researchers in the Section of Community Mental Health (CMH) at King’s College London have developed seven measures relating to different aspects of stigma and discrimination. These measures are freely available to download so long as you comply with the below conditions, including completing a short registration survey.
If you work or study in a university or health setting the scales are freely available for you subject to the conditions below.
Please follow these steps to gain aceess to the scales.
Access scales, key papers, manuals and translations
1. Register
Complete our short registration via Survey Monkey: click here to access the survey.
2. Password
Once you submit the survey, do not close the window as a password will pop up on your screen. Use it to then access the tools, key papers, manuals and translations.
3. Do not change
Please do not change or modify the questionnaires in any way.
4. Cite the original paper
If you use or publish about the tools, or their translations, please include full reference to the key paper describing the measure (e.g. in the footer).
5. No third party
Do not pass the original or translated measures to a third party. Instead, please direct them to this website.
6. Technical issues
Please contact Prof Claire Henderson (claire.1.henderson@kcl.ac.uk) if you have any questions regarding the scales.
For Translations
- Translations into different languages should be done using Back Translation (as detailed in the Translation Guidelines).
- Include the copyright information in the footer of the scale.
- Any translated versions(s) must be made available to others who wish to use them. Send your translated versions to Prof Claire Henderson (claire.1.henderson@kcl.ac.uk)
- No financial charge may be made for your version of the scales or guides.