Towards an Interdisciplinary Consensual Measure of Social Participation: From Scoping Review to Clustering Measurement

Given the current interest in social participation, this article focuses on existing measures that (1) include the four dimensions of formal social participation – breadth, intensity, duration, and engagement – identified by Bohnert et al. (2010) and (2) can be used in large-scale surveys. In Study 1, a scoping review conducted on three databases (PsychTest, PsychInfo, Sociological abstracts) identified 99 articles that included at least one measure of formal social participation. No measure met our two requirements. We therefore decided to design a new measure, which included an index based on six items to assess the four dimensions of the construct. Using clustering techniques, Study 2 identified social participation profiles based on the responses of 4,160 participants. Five clusters of social participation emerged: (0) absence, (1) passive, (2) low active, (3) medium active and (4) high active. Study 3 replicated these findings with a new sample (n = 3,956), thereby supporting the quality and replicability of the social participation measure by clustering. Coded as an ordinal categorical variable, the score lends itself to statistical analyses commonly performed on large-scale survey data. In this way, the Social Participation Index could meet the need for a standard tool that can be used in a multidisciplinary way.