Skip to main content
ABCT 2025 59th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session

Individual Oral Paper

Assessment

Diagnosis and Assessment Issues

7 - (IOP 20) Improving Diagnostic Assessment for Equity-denied Groups: Validation of the Minority Stress Module of the DART

Saturday, November 22, 2025
4:30 PM - 4:45 PM CST
Location: Celestin G, Level 3
Keywords: Assessment, Risk / Vulnerability Factors, Stress
Recommended Readings: Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674–697. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674,   Alessi, E. J. (2014). A framework for incorporating minority stress theory into treatment with sexual minority clients. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, 18(1), 47–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2013.789811,   Williams, M. T., Khanna Roy, A., MacIntyre, M.-P., & Faber, S. (2022). The traumatizing impact of racism in Canadians of colour. Current Trauma Reports, 8(2), 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40719-022-00225-5,   ,  
Background: Minority stress refers to the unique stressors, such as discrimination and internalized stigma, that equity-deserving groups experience (Meyer, 2003; Testa et al., 2015; Williams et al., 2022, 2023). Exposure to minority stress significantly contributes to increased risk for a myriad of psychological disorders, including anxiety and depressive disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders (Carmel & Erickson-Schroth, 2016; Ramirez & Galupo, 2019; Williams et al., 2022). Despite its well-documented impact, minority stress is rarely assessed in clinical settings due to the absence of validated tools (Alessi, 2014). To address this gap, the Minority Stress Module (MSM; Sullo et al., in press), a semi-structured interview designed to assess minority stress and its perceived impacts on patient mental health, was developed for the Diagnostic Assessment Research tool (DART; McCabe et al., 2017), a validated diagnostic interview tool for clinical and research settings.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the content and construct validity of the MSM.

Methods: As part of a mixed methods study, 25 youth with diverse backgrounds were recruited from the Youth Wellness Centre at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. Participants completed the MSM interview followed by a survey consisting of validated self-report measures of minority stress, including the Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Measure (Testa et al., 2014) and the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (Williams et al., 2018). Interview data were analyzed using directed content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) in which interviews were coded according to constructs measured by the minority stress scales and identified by minority stress frameworks to assess content validity. Data segments coded with constructs from the self-report measures were further quantified and triangulated with the quantitative scores to perform a correlational analysis to assess construct validity.

Results: Preliminary findings indicate that the MSM effectively captures key aspects of minority stress, such as identity-related shame and identity-related victimization, indicating strong content validity. Analysis of construct validity is ongoing and will be completed ahead of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy conference for dissemination. Implications: The development and validation of the MSM is a critical step toward improving mental health care for equity-deserving groups. Once validated, the MSM will facilitate more inclusive care by improving the therapeutic relationship, diagnostic accuracy, and treatment planning, as well as support further research to better understand and address the mental health impact of minority stress.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Report the content and construct validity of a novel minority stress assessment tool, the Minority Stress Module.