Quality of life in adults with intellectual disability: self-assessment versus assessment by others

Abstract

Researches of quality of life in persons with intellectual disability are affected by the selection of assessment methods and the validity of the obtained data. Neither self-assessment nor assessment by others can exclusively be a measure and an indicator of the objective situation, so commonly both methods are used and gained data are compared. Research objectives: assessing and comparing the quality of life in adults with intellectual disability from a different residential settings (families, institutions and residential housing units with support), and comparison of self-assessment with assessment by others (parents, professionals from institutions or residential housing units). The tasks of the research were to determine the differences in the quality of life in adults with intellectual disability from a different residential settings and to determine the differences in self-assessment and assessment by others. The Quality of life Questionnaire for persons with intellectual disability from Schalock and Keith was a research instrument, and it was answered by 130 adults with mild, moderate and severe intellectual disability. Most significant results: there is a statistically significant difference in the quality of life in terms of residential status, according to the answers of persons with intellectual disabilities (Kruskal-Wallis H test H (2) = 59.218, p < 0.001), and according to the answers obtained from other respondents (Kruskal-Wallis H test H (2) = 53.475, p < 0.001). There is a statistically significant difference between self-assessment and assessment by others (Т – test t (129) = 67.496; p>0.01).Conclusions: life in a natural family environment ensures better conditions for quality life, or generally, persons living in smaller community based units have a better quality of life than the institutionalized. Among persons with intellectual disability and respondents from their close environment, there are differences about the same issues, that is, differences between self-assessment and assessment by others.