The Resident Choice Scale: a measure to assess opportunities for self-determination in residential settings

• Published in: Journal of intellectual disability research Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 103 - 113
• Main Authors: Hatton, C., Emerson, E., Robertson, J., Gregory, N., Kessissoglou, S., Walsh, P. N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.02.2004; Blackwell Publishing; Blackwell; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Attitudes; Biological and medical sciences; Choice; Choice Behavior; Community Relations; Consumer Behavior; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Foreign Countries; Health Services Research; Humans; Intellectual Disability; Intellectual Disability - psychology; Intellectual Disability - rehabilitation; Interrater Reliability; Interviews; Ireland; Learning disabled people; Male; measurement; Measures; Measures (Individuals); Medical sciences; Mental Health Workers; Mental Retardation; Middle Aged; Opportunities; Personal Autonomy; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quality of Life - psychology; Residence Characteristics; Residential Care; Residential Facilities - classification; residential services; Self Management; self-determination; Selfdetermination; Techniques and methods; United Kingdom; Validity; Human; Test validation; Choice; Evaluation scale; Intellectual deficiency; Psychometrics; Developmental disorder; Health service; Test reliability; Mental retardation
• ISSN: 0964-2633; 1365-2788
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2004.00499.x

Background  A 26‐item Resident Choice Scale was designed to assess service practices for promoting resident choice. Method  The staff working with 560 UK/Irish adults with intellectual disability were interviewed. Specific examples of practices promoting resident choice were requested and independently rated by the interviewer. Results  The interrater reliability of Resident Choice items was found to be acceptable (subsample n = 50). The psychometric properties of the Resident Choice Scale total score and scores on eight subscales were also acceptable. Consistently strong associations were found between greater resident choice and greater resident ability and, to a lesser extent, fewer resident challenging behaviours. Few associations were found between resident choice and autism or mental health problems. Even when controlling for resident ability and challenging behaviour, consistent associations were found between greater resident choice and the concurrent variables of greater community presence, fewer institutional practices, and greater user self‐reported satisfaction (subsample n = 50). Conclusions  Taken together, this pattern of results indicates that the Resident Choice Scale shows promise as a measure of the environmental opportunities available for adults with intellectual disability to exercise self‐determination. Areas for future research testing the reliability and validity of the Resident Choice Scale are outlined.