The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #61255

Holly Hollingsworth, PhD¹, Kerri Morgan, OTR/L¹, Jeffery Cuthbert, OTR/L², and David B. Gray, PhD¹. (1) Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University, 4444 Forest Park Ave., St. Louis, MO 63108, (2) Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University in Saint Louis, Campus Box 8505, 4444 Forest Park Ave, Saint Louis, MO 63108, 314-286-1656, cuthberj@msnotes.wustl.edu

The World Health Organization recently adopted the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to provide a framework for describing health and health-related states. The participation domain, within ICF, characterizes a person’s involvement in life situations. The ICF classifies the person’s state of performance, in his or her environment, in a list of life situations and the capacity to execute a task in a standard environment. Within the same time fame of the development of the ICF, quality of life measures assumed increased importance in the field of rehabilitation as an outcome measure. Quality of life or health related quality of life scales emphasize the “effect” of an injury/illness and subsequent therapy on the functional capabilities of an individual. The intent of this presentation is to propose a measure of the construct quality of participation. This construct engages the quality of the involvement in life situations and the ‘do do’ rather than the ‘can do’ or potential function of a person’s occupational performance. The results of a CDC funded project, Mobility, Disabilities, Participation and Environment, provided evaluative information of the participation in 18 separate life situations of 604 subjects with mobility impairments. The situations included activities in home, community and work settings. A composite of choice, satisfaction, and importance responses will be proposed to measure quality of participation in each of these situations. The convergent and divergent validity of this proposed variable will also be presented.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
• Assess the classification of participation in relationship to measures of quality of participation in life situations and,
• Assess the measures of quality of life relative to measures of quality of participation in life situations and,
• Evaluate the validity of a measure of quality of participation.

Keywords: Disability, ICIDH-2

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.