The Measurement of Stress in People with an Intellectual Disability: A Pilot Study

Abstract

This research investigates the feasibility of assessing the self‐perceived stress levels of people with mild intellectual disabilities by self‐report. People with intellectual disabilities generally find it difficult to complete commonly used self‐report checklists when they are administered in the prescribed manner because of unfamiliarity with both the language and the paper and pencil format. A measure of daily stressors was therefore adapted to a standardized interview format and administered to 28 people with mild intellectual disabilities on five consecutive days. The interview format using standardized questions enabled all participants to complete the questionnaire. The use of follow‐up clarifying prompts by the interviewers ensured that the participants understood the questions and gave responses that they could support with explanations or examples. The data appeared to have reasonable levels of internal consistency. On average, each person experienced seven stressful events per day which they generally rated somewhere between ‘not so good’ and ‘bad’. The daily events found to be most stressful involved difficulties in interpersonal relationships. The evidence, however, suggests that many of the events that people with mild intellectual disability find stressful may not be covered in standard instruments such as that used in the present study. Future research should continue to develop a more sensitive, standardized measure based on events that people with disabilities report as stressful in their lives.