Medical Journal of The Islamic Republic of Iran (MJIRI)

Background: Social health is considered as a significant dimension of health and, hence, its assessment is vital in health planning. Within this context, this study aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale for measuring individual’s social health in Iran. To do so, an exploratory sequential mixed method was used.

Methods: To establish the item pool and primary scale, 30 interviews with experts and other stakeholders, and a primary review of relevant literature and similar questionnaires were conducted. Then, a survey with 800 respondents from three cities in Iran was undertaken to assess the validity and reliability of the scale.

Results: In the qualitative stage of this study, after careful consideration, forty questions were remained for the next step. Considering the correlation of the score of each question with the total score of the questionnaire, seven questions were omitted. For this questionnaire with 33 remaining questions, Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency was estimated to be 0.86. The reliability coefficient for 100 samples (taken after 7 to 10 days from the first round of sampling) was 0.91. Considering the factor analysis, three factors were recognized. These factors were named as “family”, “community” and “friends and relatives”. Cronbach's Alpha for internal consistency of community, friends and relatives, and family factors were estimated to be 0.91, 0.77 and 0.78 respectively. The corresponding value of the reliability indicator, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), for community, friends and relatives, and family were calculated 0.69, 0.80 and 0.67 respectively.

Conclusion: We developed a measurable scale for social health at an individual level in the Iranian community with an acceptable level of validity and reliability. The new developed scale is able to provide an opportunity to measure Iranians’ social health at an individual level. Such an indicator of individual health can be used in evaluating the performance of social health policies and providing a platform for evidence-based policy-making in the social health context.

  Background: Participation is mostly cultural and familial based, and there is not any assessment scales for evaluating kids’ participation in Iranian context, therefore the purpose of this study was developing children’s participation assessment scale for Iranian children.

  Methods: Development of this scale occurred in two phases; phase I: planning: following reviewing the literature and adopting and compiling some items of available evaluation tools in the area (such as CAPE, CPQ, CLASS, Life-H) and receiving advice from two expert panels, the preliminary94-item questionnaire was prepared. Phase II: construct: the survey study was carried out on40 children and 21 of their parents to assess the popularity of the activity in Iran; thus, the items of the questionnaire reduced to 92 and after face and content validity, the final version prepared with 71 items.

  Results: The final 71-item questionnaire was developed in two parent-report and child-report versions. The 71 items based on the literature and expert panels’ advice were categorized in 8 areas of occupation according to Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (ADL, IADL, Play, leisure, social participation, education, work, and sleep/rest).

  Conclusion:  Iranian children’s participation assessment is a useful and culturally relevant tool to measure participation of Iranian children.  It can be used in rigorous clinical and population-based research.