Life satisfaction of people with intellectual disability living in community residences: perceptions of the residents, their parents and staff members

Background Within the literature on quality of life (QoL), life satisfaction (LS) has emerged as a key variable by which to measure perceived well-being, which is referred to as subjective QoL. The LS self-reports of 93 residents with intellectual disability (ID) living in community-based residences were compared with reports about their LS completed by their staff and parents. Method The residents were interviewed on their LS by social workers who did not belong to the staff of the interviewee's residence. The instrument used was the Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS). Staff and parents completed the short version of the LSS. Results Residents and staff's LS reports were positively correlated. However, significant differences were found between these two groups of informants when the residents were characterized as high functioning, had a low score in challenging behaviour, worked in an integrative employment setting and lived in an apartment. As opposed to staff/resident discrepancies, no differences were found between parents’ and residents’ LS reports. Conclusions If residents cannot to be interviewed about their LS, then the parent is the preferred person to respond on behalf of the resident. The current study highlights the importance of including both objective measures (e.g. functional assessment characteristics) and subjective measures (e.g. LS) in order to get a better understanding of the QoL of people with ID.