Development of a measure of social inclusion for arts and mental health project participants

Background: Promoting the social inclusion of mental health service users is a UK policy priority, but the development of outcome measures in this area is at an early stage.Aim: To develop a social inclusion measure for use in a study assessing the outcomes of arts participation for people with mental health needs.Method: Concept and question development based on literature review, national and European surveys and results of a survey of arts and mental health projects. Measure piloted with 23 arts participants/service user researchers and field tested with 88 arts project participants returning questionnaires including the social inclusion measure, a measure of empowerment and the CORE mental health measure.Results: Three scales were constructed measuring social acceptance, social isolation and social relations. Internal consistency was good for the individual scales and for the measure as a whole. Correlations with empowerment and CORE scores indicate reasonable predictive power for the population.Conclusions: Tests to date indicate the measure is acceptable and measures relevant concepts with good internal consistency. Test-retest reliability and construct validity are not established and replication is required to confirm internal consistency and establish a normative profile for the population.