I need explanations and some fitting solutions, because I'm turning in a stranger more and more" (Selah Sue). Development and structural validation of a shortened version of the Participation Scale Purpose To validate a shortened version of the Participation Scale (P-scale) that will be quicker to use and to describe the factor structure found in the P-scale data in various study samples. Methods A large multi-country and multi-cultural database was compiled consisting of 5,125 respondents.

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... analysis, explanatory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis were applied to identify items for deletion and investigate the factor structure of the P-scale. Results The multi-country database included eleven databases from six different countries. Respondents were affected by a range of health conditions, including leprosy, HIV/AIDS and various disabilities. Of the respondents included 57% were male. The P-scale Short (PSS) contains 13 items. A two factor structure, with factors named 'work-related participation' (3 items) and 'general participation' (10 items), showed the best model fit (CFI = 0.983, TLI = 0.979, RMSEA = 0.061). The Cronbach's alphas were very good for both the whole scale and the subscales, 0.91, 0.83, and 0.90, respectively. Correlation between the two factors was high (r = 0.75) indicating that interpreting the P-scale as measuring an overall factor 'participation' is still valid. A very high correlation (r = 0.99 was found between the full P-scale and the PSS. Conclusions The findings suggest good validity of the P-scale across a range of languages and cultures. However, field testing needs to confirm the validity of the PSS to measure the level of social participation restrictions across cultures and health conditions.