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Understanding the Relationship between Quality of Life, Adaptive Behavior and Support Needs

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Abstract

Psychometric tools providing quantitative measures of the constructs of adaptive behavior, support needs, and quality of life (QOL) have received considerable attention within the field of intellectual disability (ID). The relationship between the three constructs was investigated by examining scores on the Adaptive Behavior Scale (ABS), Supports Intensity Scale (SIS), and Personal Outcomes Scale (POS; a QOL scale). Data from 146 Portuguese adults with ID revealed that: (a) the ABS domains showed a moderate negative relationship with the SIS subscales; (b) the absolute value of correlations between SIS/ABS domains were greater than either the ABS/POS or SIS/POS correlations; and (c) people with relatively stronger adaptive skills and less intense support needs experience a higher QOL. Additionally, adaptive behavior scores were a stronger predictor of personal outcomes than the support needs scores. Personal outcomes associated with QOL were similar when assessed by the POS through self-report and report-of-others measures. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

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Author notes

  1. Rui Biscaia

    Present address: Coventry University, Faculty of Business and Law, Priory Street, CV1 5FB, Coventry, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Estrada da Costa, Cruz Quebrada, 1499-002, Lisbon, Portugal

    Cristina Simões, Sofia Santos & Rui Biscaia

  2. Beach Center on Disability, Department of Special Education, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS,, 66045, USA

    James R. Thompson

Authors
  1. Cristina Simões
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  2. Sofia Santos
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  3. Rui Biscaia
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  4. James R. Thompson
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Correspondence to Cristina Simões.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The research has been approved by the ethics committee of the Centro Hospitalar de São João-Porto.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Simões, C., Santos, S., Biscaia, R. et al. Understanding the Relationship between Quality of Life, Adaptive Behavior and Support Needs. J Dev Phys Disabil 28, 849–870 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-016-9514-0

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