Table 1 People with activity limitations’ perceptions of their health condition, their social participation and experienced autonomy; descriptive statistics

N

M

SD

 Identity

14 common symptoms, occurrence and relation to their health condition. Higher scores indicate a belief that more symptoms relate to the condition (range 0–14).

1526

5.2

2.7

 Timeline acute/chronic

6 items, e.g. “My condition is likely to be permanent rather than temporary”. Higher scores indicate a belief in a more chronic timeline (range 1–5).

1641

4.5

0.6

 Timeline cyclical

4 items, e.g. “My condition is very unpredictable”. Higher scores indicate a belief in a more cyclical timeline (unpredictability) (range 1–5).

1629

3.2

0.9

 Consequences

6 items, e.g. “My condition has major consequences on my life”. Higher scores indicate a perception of more serious consequences (range 1–5).

1642

3.6

0.8

 Personal control

6 items, e.g. “I have the power to influence my condition”. Higher scores indicate a perception of more personal control (range 1–5).

1639

2.9

0.8

 Treatment control

5 items, e.g. “There is nothing which can help my condition”. Higher scores indicate a perception of more control by means of medical treatment (range 1–5).

1629

2.6

0.7

 Coherence

5 items, e.g. “My condition doesn’t make any sense to me”. Higher scores indicate a better perceived understanding of the condition (range 1–5).

1626

3.7

0.8

 Emotional representations

6 items, e.g. “When I think about my condition I get upset”. Higher scores indicate a greater perceived impact on the emotional state (range 1–5).

1634

2.7

0.9

N

%

 Doing volunteer work

1 item, “Do you perform volunteer services? (e.g. for a sports club, church, school, political party)?”

1592

26

 Performing club activities weekly

1 item, “How often do you participate in the following club activities: (1) sports in a club, (2) dance/music/drama/hobby club?”

1582

31

 Meeting friends weekly

1 item, “How often do you meet friends or good acquaintances? (we mean meetings with people who do not live in your house and with whom you have at least a short conversation, not just a greeting)”

1606

38

N

mean

SD

 Autonomy outdoors

5 items, e.g. “My chances of using leisure time the way I want to are …” (very good to very poor; range 0–4)

1656

1.8

0.8

 Autonomy in social life and relationships

7 items, e.g. “The quality of my relationships with people who are close to me are …” (very good to very poor; range 0–4)

1625

1.3

0.6