Objective: To report on the feasibility and psychometric properties in terms of homogeneity and construct validity of a newly developed handicap questionnaire focusing on person-perceived handicaps: the Impact on Participation and Autonomy (IPA).
Design: Cross-sectional. SETTING, subjects and outcome measure: One hundred consecutive individuals from the outpatient clinic of the department of rehabilitation of an academic hospital administered the new questionnaire IPA.
Results: The results show good homogeneity and construct validity of the IPA. Factor analysis showed that the scale consists of four factors, explaining 68% of the total variance: social relationships, autonomy in self-care, mobility and leisure, and family role. Homogeneity of the four subscales was considered good, Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.84 (family role) to 0.87 (social relationships). Feasibility in terms of the number of missing values and administration time needed was satisfactory.
Conclusion: The first results suggest that the IPA promises to be a useful handicap questionnaire. Further research is needed to establish test-retest reliability, convergent validity and responsiveness to change.