title: Subjective and objective quality of life assessment: responsiveness, response bias, and resident:proxy concordance.
abstract: Low language ability and response bias are frequently cited as impediments to valid responding to items on interview schedules. Structured interviews with a random sample of 154 adults with mental retardation showed that around two thirds of respondents were either unable to respond or exhibited response bias. There was a significant difference in scores on the Adaptive Behavior Scale between those who exhibited response bias and those who did not. In cases of nonresponse or response bias, the substitution of the respondent with a proxy respondent has been proposed as an alternative method of gathering subjective data. In this study concordance between individuals' responses and those of proxies was low on a subjective measure and high on an objective scale.
authors.affiliation: Welsh Centre for Learning Disabilities Applied Research Unit, Meridian Court, North Road, Cardiff, CF14 3BG, Wales, United Kingdom. perry@cf.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Felce
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015982:Bias; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012112:Residential Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology