Psychometric Validation of the Wisconsin Community Participation Scale in a Sample of People with Chronic Health Conditions and Disabilities Living in the Community

Abstract

Increasing community participation can reduce the risk for functional disabilities; participation is influenced by person and environment contextual factors. Development and validation of a brief community participation assessment can advance and support evidence-based assessment in clinical rehabilitation counseling practice. It will be an invaluable rehabilitation and public health surveillance tool that can be used to gauge the health conditions and participation of people with disabilities. The current study evaluated and validated the Wisconsin Community Participation Scale (WCPS) in 982 individuals with chronic health conditions and disabilities. Participants indicated five most meaningful life roles: (a) being able to get around with or without help, (b) live independently with or without help, (c) live a healthy lifestyle, (d) work, and (e) leisure and recreation activities. The WCPS scores were positively associated with physical health, mental health, and life satisfaction and negatively related to functional disability in the theoretically expected directions. The WCPS can help rehabilitation counselors assess their clients’ current level of participation in meaningful life roles that are important to them. Rehabilitation counselors can use the WCPS assessment data to guide treatment planning and empower clients to build confidence and self-efficacy to participate in personally meaningful activities in the community.