The P15 - a multinational assessment battery for collecting data on health indicators relevant to adults with intellectual disabilities

• Published in: Journal of intellectual disability research Vol. 54; no. 11; pp. 981 - 991
• Main Authors: Perry, J., Linehan, C., Kerr, M., Salvador-Carulla, L., Zeilinger, E., Weber, G., Walsh, P., Van Schrojenstein Lantman-de-Valk, H., Haveman, M., Azema, B., Buono, S., Câra, A. Carmen, Germanavicius, A., Van Hove, G., Määttä, T., Berger, D. Moravec, Tossebro, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.2010; Wiley-Blackwell; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cognitive ability; Cross Cultural Studies; Data Collection; Down Syndrome; Europe; Feasibility Studies; Female; Foreign Countries; health disparity; health indicators; health inequity; Health Status Disparities; health survey; Health Surveys - methods; Health Surveys - standards; Health Surveys - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Injuries; intellectual disabilities; Intellectual Disability; Intellectual Disability - epidemiology; Intellectual Disability - physiopathology; Internationality; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical research; Mental Retardation; Middle Aged; Prevalence; Psychometrics; Public Health; Qualitative research; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Factors; Sample size; Social Indicators; Test Construction; Test Validity; Young Adult; Europe
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01322.x
• ISSN: 0964-2633

Background  Health disparities between adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) and the general population have been well documented but, to date, no dedicated assessment battery for measuring health disparity has been available. This paper reports on the development and testing of a multinational assessment battery for collecting data on a range of health indicators relevant to adults with ID. Methods  An assessment battery (the P15) was developed following piloting, and administered to samples of adults with ID, in 14 EU countries. Samples were neither random, nor representative of the countries from which they were drawn. However, within the local health administration areas selected in each country, efforts were made to ensure samples were broadly representative of the typical living circumstances, ages and ability levels of the administrative population of adults with ID. The total sample comprised 1269 adults with ID, of whom 49% were female. The mean age was 41 years (range 19 to 90). Results  Overall, feasibility, internal consistency and face validity of the P15 was acceptable. Conclusions  With some refinement the P15 could be useful for collecting data on health indicators known to be particularly important for adults with ID. It is useable in a range of countries and has the potential to highlight health inequity for adults with ID at a national or local level. Larger scale epidemiological studies are needed to exploit the potential of the P15 to address health inequity in this group.