Structural validity and internal consistency of Picture My Participation: A measure for children with disability

Picture My Participation (PMP) intended to measure participation, defined as attendance and involvement in everyday situations, of children with disabilities, particularly in low- and middle-income settings.

To explore structural validity of PMP by identifying possible subcomponents in the attendance scale and examining internal consistency of the total score and each subcomponent.

A picture-supported interview was conducted with 182 children, 7-18 years, with and without intellectual disability (ID). Frequency of attendance in 20 activities was rated on a four-point Likert scale (never, seldom, sometimes and always).

An exploratory principal component analysis extracted four subcomponents: (1) organised activities, (2) social activities and taking care of others, (3) family life activities and 4) personal care and development activities. Internal consistency for the total scale (alpha = 0.85) and the first two subcomponents (alpha = 0.72 and 0.75) was acceptable. The two last subcomponents alpha values were 0.57 and 0.49.

The four possible subcomponents of PMP can be used to provide information about possible domains in which participation and participation restrictions exist. This study provided further psychometric evidence about PMP as a measure of participation. The stability and the utility of these subcomponents needed further exploration.