 2010 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists A brief measure of vocational activity and community participation: development and reliability of the Activity and Participation Questionnaire Gavin Stewart, Grant Sara, Meredith Harris, Geoffrey Waghorn, Anna Hall, Siva Sivarajasingam, Beverley Gladman, Bryan Mowry Objectives: Social and economic marginalization are signiicant problems for many people living with mental illness. Clinicians and policy-makers have increased their focus on these aspects of recovery. Current outcome measures, however, do not support this focus, and detailed functional measures are not suitable for routine clinical use. This report describes the development and test–retest reliability of the Activity and Participation Questionnaire (APQ6); a self-report measure of vocational activity and social participation for routine use in community mental health services. Method: The APQ6 was developed from concepts of the Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Surveys and Census. Field testing and consumer consultation were under- taken in New South Wales (NSW) mental health rehabilitation services. Test–retest reliabil- ity trials were conducted simultaneously by research teams in NSW and Queensland. Results: Pairs of short-cycle test–retest reliability interviews were obtained from 129 mental health service consumers. Consumer feedback and test–retest reliability results at question and item levels indicate good construct validity. The measure has utility as both a telephone and a personal interview in community mental health settings. Conclusions: The reported psychometric properties support the proposed use of the APQ6 as a recovery-orientated measure focusing on vocational activity and community participation. The APQ6 is being introduced for routine use by NSW mental health services. Key words: employment, psychosocial rehabilitation, role functioning, social inclusion, vocational rehabilitation. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 2010; 44:258–266 Grant Sara, Director/Clinical Senior Lecturer (Correspondence) InforMH, Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Office, NSW Health, PO Box 169, North Ryde, NSW 1670, Australia (Email: grsara@nsccahs. health.nsw.gov.au); Northern Clinical School, School of Psychiatry, Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Gavin Stewart, Senior Project Officer Strategic Planning and Evaluation, Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Office, NSW Health, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Meredith Harris, Senior Research Fellow; Geoffrey Waghorn, Adjunct Senior Lecturer University of Queensland, School of Population Health, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia; Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Policy and Economics Group, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Anna Hall, Project Manager; Siva Sivarajasingam, Senior Statistician InforMH, Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Office, NSW Health, North Ryde, New South Wales, Australia Beverley Gladman, Research Officer Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Policy and Economics Group, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Bryan Mowry, Director Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Genetics Group, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Received 5 May 2009; accepted 14 August 2009. Aust NZ J Psychiatry Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by University of Queensland on 06/23/10 For personal use only.