Psychometric validation of the brief Multiple Sclerosis Community Participation Scale

BACKGROUND: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) has received considerable attention as a model of disability in recent years. Within the ICF framework, community integration and participation are considered one of the most important outcomes of health and rehabilitation interventions. Participation is a very complex and subjective concept and therefore very difficult to measure. Most participation measures are relatively long and not ideal for public health and rehabilitation surveillance or for testing complex models using structural equation modeling. OBJECTIVE: The main purpose of this studywas to report the psychometric validation results for the brief Multiple Sclerosis Community Participation Scale (MSCPS) with 256 individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). RESULTS: Participants indicated that living independently; getting around; participating in recreational and social activities; and engaging in health promoting behaviors are highly important and meaningful life roles, followed by participating in meaningful life roles as children, spouses, parents, and full-time workers. Being a student, church member, and a part-time worker were the least important life roles for people with MS in the present study. IMPLICATIONS: Because of its brevity, the MSCPS has an advantage over other long form participation measures, making it suitable for public health surveillance, community follow-up of patients recently discharged from hospitals, and for researchers who are searching for abbreviated measures to test complex ICF models. CONCLUSION: The MSCPS appears to be a promising rehabilitation/health assessment and public health surveillance tool for individuals with MS, one that can be used by rehabilitation counselors to assess levels of community participation in their interview, assessment, and rehabilitation planning protocols.