Characteristics of social participation as defined by older adults with a chronic physical illness

Abstract

In our study, older adults with a chronic physical illness perceived social participation as a positive experience having one or more of the following three characteristics: social contact, contributing resources to society or receiving resources from society. This is fairly consistent with the literature about social participation, although previous researchers did not mention a positive experience condition and disagreed whether receiving resources could be considered as 'genuine' social participation.

Inventory and analysis of definitions of social participation found in the aging literature: Proposed taxonomy of social activities

“…Although not all the definitions specified that social participation required contact with others, further analyses reveal that all but one definition (Glass & Balfour, 2003) either stressed the dimensions or underlying sub-dimensions of social activities, social roles, social interaction, community or society, or others. This is consistent with previous work on the conceptualization of social participation (Lariviere, 2008;Mars et al, 2008;Raymond, Gagné, Sévigny, & Tourigny, 2008) and conceptual models (Fougeyrollas et al, 1998;Glass & Balfour, 2003). For example, according to the Disability Creation Process model (Fougeyrollas et al, 1998), social participation includes activities and roles which result from the interaction of individual factors (e.g., personal characteristics, organic systems, and capabilities) with the physical and social environment.…”

“…Raymond, Gagné, Sévigny, and Tourigny (2008) identified four types of definition of social participation in the literature: daily living functioning, social interactions, social networking, and formal involvement. Our third and fourth levels share similarities with social interactions (Raymond et al, 2008) and receiving resources from society (Mars et al, 2008). Even though social integration (Berkman, 1995) and social networking (Raymond et al, 2008) also partially refer to our third through fifth levels, they can be seen as an outcome of social participation rather than a particular type or level.…”

“…To some extent, social participation is a process that reflects age, sex, and the sociocultural identity of the person and necessitates adjustment to social and cultural norms. As highlighted by some definitions, social participation can be influenced by political (Young & Glasgow, 1998;Mars et al, 2008), economic (Mendes de Leon et al, 2003) and community contexts. Social participation involves choices by the person, coherent and consistent with his/her identity.…”

Rehabilitation Interventions for Improving Social Participation After Stroke

“…A social participation outcome required measurement of one or more of the following three characteristics: social contact, contributing to society (e.g., volunteer work) or receiving from society (e.g., receiving a visit from a friend). 13 Studies were excluded if the full research document was not located, if the type of intervention could not be identified or detail of intervention was not provided, and if the data was derived from a conference proceeding or abstract. Interventions which involved electrotherapeutics or electro-mechanics (e.g., electrical stimulation, vibration) were excluded as they are not typically considered community-based programs.…”

Development of the International Spinal Cord Injury Activities and Participation Basic Data Set

“…Most authors are in favor of limiting participation to categories related to involvement in social roles or at least interaction with others. 13,[23][24][25][26] On an operational level, a consensus seems to be emerging to consider the ICF chapters 1-5 to address activities and 7-9 to involve participation. 11,13,21,26 On the assignment of chapter 6 (domestic life) authors diverge, probably because this chapter covers a mixture of activity-type categories, for example, washing the dishes, and role-type categories, for example, parenting.…”