Compare methods

	Disability Quality of Life Assessment	Supports Intensity Scale
Field	Disability Studies	Disability Studies
Family	Latent structure	Latent structure
Year of origin	2002	2009
Originator	Robert L. Schalock & Miguel Angel Verdugo; World Health Organization (ICF)	James R. Thompson and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD)
Type	Measurement methodology for quality of life in disability populations	Standardized support-needs assessment scale
Seminal source	Schalock, R. L., & Verdugo, M. A. (2002). Handbook on Quality of Life for Human Service Practitioners. Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation. ISBN: 9780940898776	Thompson, J. R., Bradley, V. J., Buntinx, W. H. E., et al. (2009). Conceptualizing supports and the support needs of people with intellectual disability. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 47(2), 135-146.
Aliases	QOL Measurement in Disability, Health-Related Quality of Life Assessment, Disability HRQOL Methodology, QOL-in-Disability Assessment	SIS, AAIDD Supports Intensity Scale, Support Needs Assessment, Supports Intensity Level Scale
Related	3	3
Summary	Quality of life assessment in disability populations is the general methodology for measuring how well people with disabilities are living, encompassing both overall quality of life and health-related quality of life. Unlike a single instrument or model, it is a set of methodological commitments and decisions that researchers and practitioners must navigate whenever they attempt such measurement. Drawing on the quality-of-life science consolidated by Schalock and Verdugo and on the biopsychosocial framing of disability in the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, the methodology distinguishes objective life conditions from subjective evaluation, weighs generic against condition-specific instruments, and confronts phenomena that are especially acute in disability populations. Chief among these are response shift, the tendency for a person's internal standards to change over time, and the disability paradox, in which people with serious impairments often report a good quality of life that observers would not predict. The methodology also insists on accessible administration and valid proxy reporting so that people who communicate differently are measured fairly rather than excluded.	The Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) is a standardized assessment developed by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) to measure the pattern and intensity of the supports a person with intellectual or developmental disability needs to participate in everyday life. Rather than cataloguing deficits or measuring impairment, the SIS reframes assessment around the supports paradigm articulated by Thompson and colleagues, asking what kinds and amounts of help a person requires to take part in valued activities. It surveys support needs across six life-activity domains — home living, community living, lifelong learning, employment, health and safety, and social activities — together with protection and advocacy and exceptional medical and behavioral needs. Each relevant activity is rated on three independent dimensions: how often support is needed, how much daily support time it consumes, and what type of support is required. These item ratings are converted into standardized subscale scores and an overall Supports Intensity Index that supports person-centered planning and the equitable allocation of resources.