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Self‐ and Proxy Reports Across Three Populations: Older Adults, Persons With Alzheimer’s Disease, and Persons With Intellectual Disabilities
Author(s) -
Perkins Elizabeth A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of policy and practice in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1741-1130
pISSN - 1741-1122
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-1130.2006.00092.x
Subject(s) - proxy (statistics) , psychology , dementia , intellectual disability , concordance , affect (linguistics) , clinical psychology , population , gerontology , disease , cognition , developmental psychology , psychiatry , medicine , communication , environmental health , pathology , machine learning , computer science
Self‐reports are often used to determine general well‐being in both research studies and practice settings. Proxy reports are also used to gain insight into the well‐being of persons with physical ill‐heath, cognitive impairments, or disabilities. The author reviews the utility and limitations of using self‐ and proxy reports across three populations: older adults, persons with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and persons with intellectual disabilities (ID). For differing reasons, the use of self‐ and proxy reports often results in inaccuracies. Among older adults, the level of subjectivity in questions, type of relationship, and levels of carer burden may influence the outcomes, while increasing severity of dementia and decreased deficit awareness may affect data from persons with AD, and question formats, acquiescence, and level of intellectual development may affect data from persons with ID. However, generally, proxy reports can be useful in determining aspects of well‐being in people with ID, in people with AD, and in the general older population, as long as researchers keep in mind that factors that can enhance (e.g., experiences/abilities that are more objectively assessed, and attention to question format) or diminish (e.g., experiences/abilities that are more subjectively assessed, severity of dementia, and level of ID) the quality of information obtained. With respect to the use of these techniques with people with ID, the author concludes that careful attention to survey items, especially response format and wording, can greatly enhance self‐report completion and proxy concordance.