RATIONALE: As support in leading a meaningful and active life, a person with mental illness is often given the opportunity to attend a day centre. However, few studies have investigated the meaningfulness perceived by the person visiting a day centre. For such a purpose, a self-report instrument was developed. AIMS: To explore whether perceived meaningfulness, as expressed in the recently developed instrument Evaluation of Perceived Meaning in Day Centers (EPM-DC), could be viewed as one dimension and also to investigate the psychometric properties of this instrument. METHODS: Persons with mental illness attending five day centres in Sweden participated and completed the questionnaire. The data were analysed by Rasch analysis. MAJOR FINDINGS: The study showed that the concept captured in the instrument could be viewed as unidimensional and the result gave preliminary evidence for sound psychometric properties. PRINCIPAL CONCLUSION: The results indicate promising signs of validity and reliability, but the suitability of self-reporting may be questioned.
RATIONALE: As support in leading a meaningful and active life, a person with mental illness is often given the opportunity to attend a day centre. However, few studies have investigated the meaningfulness perceived by the person visiting a day centre. For such a purpose, a self-report instrument was developed. AIMS: To explore whether perceived meaningfulness, as expressed in the recently developed instrument Evaluation of Perceived Meaning in Day Centers (EPM-DC), could be viewed as one dimension and also to investigate the psychometric properties of this instrument. METHODS:Persons with mental illness attending five day centres in Sweden participated and completed the questionnaire. The data were analysed by Rasch analysis. MAJOR FINDINGS: The study showed that the concept captured in the instrument could be viewed as unidimensional and the result gave preliminary evidence for sound psychometric properties. PRINCIPAL CONCLUSION: The results indicate promising signs of validity and reliability, but the suitability of self-reporting may be questioned.