Measuring the community participation of adults with intellectual disability: development and validation of the Guernsey Community Participation and Leisure Assessment - Revised

An up to date, psychometrically robust measure of the level of community participation of adults with intellectual disabilities was not in existence, despite research identifying community participation as an important aspect of quality of life. The current research aimed to bring up to date, revise and revalidate the Guernsey Community Participation and Leisure Assessment (GCPLA; Baker, 2000). Adults with intellectual disabilities, carers and relevant experts were consulted in creating a 46-item GCPLA-R. The measure was then tested and the data from 153 adults with intellectual disabilities were analysed for their factor structure and psychometric properties. A stable set of factors emerged from factor analysis describing three different clusters of community participation activities. A full and a brief version of the scale were produced, each containing the three sub-scales. Both the 22-item and 46-item GCPLA-R were found to have satisfactory reliability. Scores on the GCPLA-R were related to challenging behaviour and adaptive behaviour in theoretically consistent ways, and were correlated with scores on comparable measures. The 46-item GCPLA-R was selected for publication due to its stronger face and content validity. The outcome of the analyses is discussed, along with limitations and implications for future research and clinical practice.