The personal outcome measures.

BACKGROUND

The Personal Outcome Measures is a person-centered tool to measure the quality of life (QOL) of people with disabilities, especially those who receive long term services and supports. While the outcomes examine people's satisfaction with their lives in a wide range of areas, the organizational supports determine if service agencies are appropriately supporting people with disabilities to ensure people with disabilities have the best possible QOL. The Personal Outcome Measures has been administered to tens of thousands of people with disabilities and older adults over its twenty-five years of existence.

OBJECTIVE

In order for the Personal Outcome Measures to adequately measure the QOL of people with disabilities, it must continuously be refined in alignment with the advances made by people with disabilities, and the disability service system. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to re-validate the Personal Outcome Measures.

METHODS

A Principal Components Analysis was used to analyze data from 1473 people with disabilities to determine if any indicators needed to be removed as well as the underlying structure of the Personal Outcome Measures.

RESULTS

The analysis revealed the Personal Outcome Measures has construct validity. It also found that the 21 indicators fall into five underlying factors: my human security; my community; my relationships; my choices; and, my goals.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together these twenty-one indicators and five factors represent a multifaceted and comprehensive QOL assessment that aims to improve the lives of people with disabilities.