Psychometric testing of a self-report measure of engagement in productive occupations.
BACKGROUND
Occupational therapists working with clients in productive occupations explicitly or implicitly assess their clients' occupational engagement.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the psychometric properties of the Profiles of Occupational Engagement in People with Severe Mental Illness: Productive Occupations (POES-P) in terms of internal consistency, initial construct validation, and floor and ceiling effects.


METHODS
Participants (n = 93) from six day centres completed the data collection. Correlations between the POES-P and instruments measuring similar and dissimilar attributes, such as satisfaction, psychosocial functioning, and unmet needs, were studied.


RESULTS
A moderate relationship was found between the POES-P and occupational satisfaction (r(s) = 0.43) and a weak one with psychosocial functioning (r(s) = 0.22). The association with researcher-assessed participant engagement was slightly higher (r(s) = 0.37), and the relationship with unmet needs was nonsignificant (r(s) = -0.15). Internal consistency of the POES-P (alpha = 0.85) was good, but the distribution of responses indicated a ceiling effect.


CONCLUSIONS
The POES-P seems promising for assessing engagement in work-like occupations but would benefit from further development.
Department of Health Sciences/Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science, Lund University, Box 157, SE 221 00 Lund, Sweden. carina.tjornstrand@med.lu.se
Carina
C
Tjörnstrand
Ulrika
U
Bejerholm
Mona
M
Eklund
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014937:Work