Quality of life for people with physical disabilities: a new instrument

This article describes the development and validation of the Quality of Life Profile for Adults with Physical Disabilities (QOLP-PD). This new cross-disability instrument is grounded in a well-developed conceptual framework. It reflects the underlying assumption that quality of life issues are the same for people with and without disabilities, although adults living with chronic physical disabilities may address those issues somewhat differently during the course of their daily lives. This instrument was developed on the basis of in-depth interviews, item review and refinement, and pilot testing with adults who have chronic acquired and life-long physical disabilities. Preliminary validation studies were carried out in separate studies with two Canadian samples for which separate results are reported. In Study 1, interviewer-administered items were completed by a cross-disability sample from a large city in Ontario (n = 27). In Study 2, self-administered items were completed by adults with spinal cord injuries from urban and rural Saskatchewan (n = 40). Alpha coefficients for the QOLP-PD ranged from 0.67-0.97 (Ontario sample) and from 0.84-0.98 (Saskatchewan sample). Validation coefficients are also reported. Although the samples were small, the psychometric properties of the instrument are generally sound. Future research directions are discussed.