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Evaluation of the Social Participation Questionnaire in adult patients with depressive symptoms using Rasch analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the 22-item Social Participation Questionnaire (SPQ).

Methods

The SPQ was administered to 789 adult primary care patients with depressive symptoms. As the items were intended to be summed together to provide total score, Rasch analysis (partial credit model) was applied to assess the overall fit of the model, individual item fit, differential item functioning (DIF), targeting of persons, response dependency, unidimensionality and person separation.

Results

To improve the scale’s fit, it was necessary to re-score the response format. Two items demonstrated some DIF for gender and eight items showed DIF for age. To support the assumption of unidimensionality post hoc principal component analysis was performed. The analysis showed two subtests of the residuals with positive and negative loadings, but the person estimates derived from these two subtests were not statistically different to that derived from all items taken together. The response dependence between two items was identified; however, the magnitude of difficulty was very small. Although the questionnaire appeared to have insufficient items to assess the full spectrum of informal social contact, the SPQ was reasonably well targeted.

Conclusion

The SPQ is a promising questionnaire for the measurement of social participation although it could benefit from the inclusion of further items to measure informal social contact. This study found support for the internal validity, internal consistency reliability, and unidimensionality. A future study will investigate whether targeting can be improved when additional items are included.

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Acknowledgments

The named authors submit this publication on behalf of the diamond study investigators which include: Professor Jane Gunn, Professor Helen Herrman, Professor Mike Kyrios, A/Professor Kelsey Hegarty, Professor Christopher Dowrick, Dr. Gail Gilchrist, Associate Professor Grant Blashki, Professor Dimity Pond, Ms. Patty Chondros, Dr. Renata Kokanovic and Dr. Victoria Palmer. The diamond study was initiated with pilot funding from the beyondblue Victorian Centre of Excellence, and the main cohort has received project grant funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (ID 299869, 454463 and 566511). The 1-year Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview was funded by a Stream 3 grant from the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute (APHCRI). No funding body had a role in study design; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit this manuscript for publication. We acknowledge the 30 dedicated GPs, their patients and practice staff for making this research possible. We thank the cohort participants for their ongoing involvement in the study. We also thank the diamond project team and associate investigators involved in the study: Dr. Lena Sanci, Ms. Catherine Mihalopoulos, Ms. Maria Potiriadis, Ms. Aves Middleton and the casual research staff.

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Correspondence to Konstancja Densley.

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Densley, K., Davidson, S. & Gunn, J.M. Evaluation of the Social Participation Questionnaire in adult patients with depressive symptoms using Rasch analysis. Qual Life Res 22, 1987–1997 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-013-0354-4

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