A brief measure of vocational activity and community participation: development and reliability of the Activity and Participation Questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
Social and economic marginalization are significant problems for many people living with mental illness. Clinicians and policy-makers have increased their focus on these aspects of recovery. Current outcome measures, however, do not support this focus, and detailed functional measures are not suitable for routine clinical use. This report describes the development and test-retest reliability of the Activity and Participation Questionnaire (APQ6); a self-report measure of vocational activity and social participation for routine use in community mental health services.


METHODS
The APQ6 was developed from concepts of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Surveys and Census. Field testing and consumer consultation were undertaken in New South Wales (NSW) mental health rehabilitation services. Test-retest reliability trials were conducted simultaneously by research teams in NSW and Queensland.


RESULTS
Pairs of short-cycle test-retest reliability interviews were obtained from 129 mental health service consumers. Consumer feedback and test-retest reliability results at question and item levels indicate good construct validity. The measure has utility as both a telephone and a personal interview in community mental health settings.


CONCLUSIONS
The reported psychometric properties support the proposed use of the APQ6 as a recovery-orientated measure focusing on vocational activity and community participation. The APQ6 is being introduced for routine use by NSW mental health services.
Stewart
Gavin
G
InforMH, Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Office, NSW Health, PO Box 169, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia.
Sara
Grant
G
Harris
Meredith
M
Waghorn
Geoffrey
G
Hall
Anna
A
Sivarajasingam
Siva
S
Gladman
Beverley
B
Mowry
Bryan
B
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D011793:Queensland; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation; D055815:Young Adult