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(PEM-CY): PRELIMINARY FINDINGS This finding is consistent with previous research which demonstrated that youth perceive their activity and participation levels differently from their parents (McDougall, Bedell & Wright, 2013). 34 This study supports that, in addition to parent perspectives, youth perspectives are also imperative to shedding further light on the complex construct of participation (Bedell, Khetani, Cousins, Coster & Law, 2011). The theme wisdom of youth highlighted the unique and valuable perspective of youth as well as the importance of self-report to capture the evolution of participation as youth mature. In addition, our quantitative findings support the structure of the PEM-CY (i.e., measuring participation in 3 different settings) and its applicability in accounting for youth participation. For example, in the community setting, as opposed to the home and school settings, relatively lower levels of participation were observed and most “never” responses were noted. These findings are in-line with previous research demonstrating that levels of community participation decrease with increasing age and are more likely to be influenced by environmental barriers (Law, Petrenchik, King & Hurley, 2007; Jarus, et al., 2010; Anaby et al., 2014). This lends preliminary support to the construct validity of a youth-report version of the PEM-CY. Having a youth-report version to capture participation profile will allow for a more accurate representation of the barriers. In terms of relevancy and clarity of the measure, the overall VAS scores in combination with positive comments seen in the field of strengths theme demonstrate that the majority of items were clear and examples were relevant to youth responders. Nonetheless, the theme conceptual confusion emerged as participants reported confusing terminology and unclear items in the PEM-CY. For example, the concept of participation in the home environment and the term “involvement” were reported as unclear. Further confusion in the home setting was related to items pertaining to technology. As explained above, several items were addressed in the final changes in order to make them more current. The confusion in respect to involvement and participation in specific environmental settings emphasizes the importance of explaining the purpose of the assessment when using it with a youth clientele and pointing out the stated definitions in the instructions. In relation to defining concepts, the topic of physical activities arose as a potentially separate cluster from other classroom activities. In particular for youth with disabilities, gym class can impose different barriers to participation. However, the researchers acknowledge this change may not align with previously defined concepts of categories and clusters of activities (Coster et al., 2012). This warrants further investigation and could be incorporated into further discussion about domains of activity. STUDY LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS The main limitation is the sample population, which cannot be deemed representative of all youth between 12 and 17 years of age. All the participants without disability Erg-go! REVUE DES ERGOTHÉRAPEUTES DU QUÉBEC were female, and most of the participants with disabilities had an orthopaedic impairment and none with severe cognitive impairment. Future research should be carried out with a larger sample, and include more youth with disabilities to validate use of the youth-report and determine inclusion criteria and functional level for application. Once a more validated youth self-report version has been established, psychometric properties should be evaluated, parent-youth reports should be compared and the revised version should be then adapted to the Quebec context. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND CONCLUSIONS A youth version of the PEM-CY would allow occupational therapists to better understand the interests and habits of teenagers. Clinically, the results would complement findings from interviews, help in goal setting, and in tailoring intervention plans to be client-centered. This revised version can be used in occupational therapy, but may also be helpful in other healthcare disciplines or, alternatively, in a variety of settings (e.g. rehabilitation centers, schools and recreational centers) for the purpose of program evaluation. Overall, the findings of this study provide preliminary support for a youth version of the PEM-CY. Although further investigation is required, it is clear that youth are willing and capable self-reporters and that first-hand perspectives of participation are of value for developing client-centered intervention plans geared at improving participation for youth with and without disabilities. OCTOBRE 2014_NO.3 REFERENCES - Anaby D, Law M, Coster W., Bedell G, Kehtani M, Avery L and Teplicky R. (2014). The mediating role of the environment in explaining participation of youth with and without disabilities across home, school and community. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 95(5):908-917. - Bedell, G., Coster, W., Law, M., Liljenquist, K., Kao, Y.-C., Teplicky, R., . . . Khetani, M. A. (2013). Community Participation, Supports, and Barriers of School-Age Children With and Without Disabilities. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 94(2), 315-323. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2012.09.024 - Bedell, G., Khetani, M., Coster, J., Law, M., & Cousins, M. (2012). Measures of participation in community, social and civic life for children with disabilities. Measures of outcomes and their determinants for children and youth with developmental disabilities. - Bedell, G. M., Khetani, M. A., Cousins, M. A., Coster, W. J., & Law, M. C. (2011). Parent perspectives to inform development of measures of children's participation and environment. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 92(5), 765-773. - CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.canchild.ca/en - Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://