Quality of Life Outcomes in a Community Cohort of Adults With an Intellectual Disability Using the Personal Outcome Scale

Tom Burke; Andrew Deffew; Owen Stafford; Caroline Docherty; Sandra Burke; Remco Mostert; Jos van Loon; Marco Lombardi; Marianne Vaughan; Robert Brickell; Mary Keogh; Wendy Mahon; David O'Halloran

doi:10.3389/fresc.2022.848492

Quality of Life Outcomes in a Community Cohort of Adults With an Intellectual Disability Using the Personal Outcome Scale

Front Rehabil Sci. 2022 Mar 25:3:848492. doi: 10.3389/fresc.2022.848492. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Tom Burke^{1

2

3}, Andrew Deffew^{1

4}, Owen Stafford^{1

2}, Caroline Docherty³, Sandra Burke¹, Remco Mostert⁵, Jos van Loon⁵, Marco Lombardi⁵, Marianne Vaughan¹, Robert Brickell¹, Mary Keogh¹, Wendy Mahon¹, David O'Halloran^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ KARE Services, Kilcullen, Ireland.
² School of Psychology, John Henry Newman Building, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
³ School of Psychology, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
⁴ School of Psychology, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
⁵ Hogeschool Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.

Abstract

Objectives: Quality of life (QoL) is a multi-dimensional phenomenon composed of core domains that are influenced by personal characteristics, values, and environmental contributions. There are eight core domains of QoL aligned with both the United Nations and the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD). The Personal Outcome Scale (POS), is a semi-structured self and proxy instrument that specifically measures these aspects of QoL for people with an intellectual disability.

Methods: A total of 85 people with an intellectual disability and their primary keyworker (n = 85) took part in this study. A convenience sample recruitment strategy was employed to recruit participants during the calendar year from January-December 2020. Participants completed the self-report and proxy POS, and clinic-demographic data was also considered.

Results: QoL is higher in those who have a dedicated service planner and also for those with a less severe to profound disability. People who were in gainful employment reported significantly higher QoL as did those availing of outreach and residential services, over and above local services.

Conclusions: This research shows that there are distinct and specific factors that relate to QoL for people with an intellectual disability community-based services in Ireland. Future research could aim to investigate these longitudinally, and specifically how QoL relates to cognitive and functional outcomes.

Keywords: community-based services; intellectual disabilities; personal outcome measures; psychological wellbeing; quality of life.