[Evaluation of social functioning in patients at a health center]

The Social Functioning Scale (SFS) is described, together with its rationale and development. The instrument consists of 35 items, and was administered to a sample of 320 adult patients of a health center. Social functioning is assessed in a semistructured, 30 minute interview. The patient reports the level of satisfaction related to his/her role performance in five major areas: occupational, social relationships, economic, marital and familiar. Reliability and validity have been established for the SFS. The reliability coefficients for all areas were over 0.80 (p = 0.01). A varimax factor analysis was applied and five factors emerged for the construct validity. This accounted for 52 percent of the total variance. The use of the SFS is recommended since its validity and reliability have been demonstrated. The instrument could be useful for Mexico, and also for other Spanish speaking countries.