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Although choice is widely regarded as an essential component of quality of life, researchers have made few attempts to develop and evaluate psychometrically sound instruments to measure the availability of choice to people with intellectual disability. This paper presents information on the development and evaluation of the Choice Questionnaire. The scale can be administered by interviewing the consumer or may be completed by a knowledgeable proxy. Used in either of these ways, the Choice Questionnaire was found to have very satisfactory reliability and validity. Its use as a research and evaluation tool is discussed.
ROGER J. STANCLIFFE
TREVOR R. PARMENTER
Centre for Developmental Disability Studies
Personal freedom and control over one's life are cherished rights within our society. O'Brien (1987) listed choice as one of the five accomplishments essential to quality of life, and other conceptualisations of this construct also feature choice-making as an essential component (Hughes, Hwang, Kim, Eisenman, & Killian, 1995). Available research suggests that adults with intellectual disability make fewer choices than do peers without disability (Kishi, Teelucksingh, Zollers, Park-Lee, & Meyer, 1988; Parsons, McCarn, & Reid, 1993; Wehmeyer & Metzler, 1995). As well, the nature of the individual's living environment can affect the degree of choice available (Stancliffe, 1997; Stancliffe & Abery, 1997; Stancliffe & Wehmeyer, 1995; Tossebro, 1995). Choice is a highly valued outcome, but it is less available to many people with intellectual disability, and features of some service settings may restrict choice even further.
Despite recognition of the importance of choice, researchers have made few attempts to develop and evaluate psychometrically sound instruments to measure its availability to people with intellectual disability. With the increased emphasis on valued outcomes as indices of service quality and effectiveness, choice is one important outcome for which satisfactory measurement scales are needed for use in research, evaluation, and policy making.
Previous approaches to assessing choice availability
Attempts have been made to quantify choice availability by researchers from Australia (Jenkinson, Copeland, Drivas, Scoon, & Yap, 1992; Kent, 1990; Parmenter, Briggs, & Sullivan, 1991), the United States (Colorado Division for Developmental Disabilities, 1992; Harner & Heal, 1993; Kishi et al., 1988; Schalock & Keith, 1993; Seltzer & Seltzer, 1978; Wehmeyer & Metzler, 1995) and elsewhere (Schwartz, 1995; Tossebro, 1995). As is common in...