Abstract
Within the context of physical disability, participation has typically been conceptualized
in terms of one's performance of different roles and activities. This perspective,
however, ignores the meanings and satisfactions that a person derives from participating.
Without an accepted conceptualization of participation that accounts for people's
subjective perceptions and experiences, it is challenging for decision-makers and
service providers to design meaningful participation-enhancing services, programs,
and policies. Accordingly, our objectives were (1) to conduct a review of definitions
and conceptualizations of participation that extend beyond performance and capture
people's subjective experiences of participating and (2) to identify key experiential
aspects of participation that can be used as a basis for conceptualizing and operationalizing
the concept more broadly. The project involved a systematic, configurative review
of relevant literature. Ten relevant articles were identified. Information on characteristics
associated with experiential aspects of participation was extracted and subjected
to a thematic analysis. The following 6 themes emerged: autonomy, belongingness, challenge,
engagement, mastery, and meaning. Drawing on these findings, it is recommended that
the individual's subjective perceptions of autonomy, belongingness, challenge, engagement,
mastery, and meaning associated with participating be incorporated into conceptualizations
and operationalizations of the participation construct. This recommendation provides
a starting point for clinicians, researchers, and policymakers to conceptualize and
measure the participation concept more consistently and more broadly.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 20, 2016
Footnotes
Supported by a partnership grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (grant no. 895-2013-1021) for the Canadian Disability Participation Project (www.cdpp.ca).
The funding agency had no involvement in the conception or preparation of this manuscript.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
