Disclosure, or degree of "outness" has been recognized as an important measurement in lesbian and gay populations to provide better understanding of various health issues associated with disclosure. In 2008, A Lesbian Identity Disclosure Assessment (ALIDA) was created to quantify the daily degree of disclosure. Reliability for the instrument was adequate for both lesbians with and without children. It was recognized, through statistical analysis, that the instrument may be lacking an important concept that, when included, may raise the instrument's reliability. Hence, the concept of "general public" disclosure was added to ALIDA-II, and the instrument was tested in a new study. Reliability for lesbians with and without children increased to ideal levels with consistent factor analyses and predictive variables on regression models. This instrument should be used widely, and although the instrument has been used in lesbians only, the use in gay men is now being tested.
Keywords: disclosure; gay; instrument; lesbian; outness; reliability; validity.