Quality of life issues in social skills assessment of persons with disabilities are reviewed and discussed in terms of definitions, measures, applications to social skills assessment, and future needs. It is argued that broader measures need to be used in social skills assessment in order to evaluate quality of life changes, that an operational definition be agreed upon, and that appropriate dependent measures will likely change over time and across populations.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndrewsF. M., & WhitneyS. B. (1979). Social indicators of well-being: Americans' perceptions of life quality. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
2.
BakerF., & IntagliataJ. (1982). Quality of life in the evaluation of community support services. Evaluation and Program Planning, 5, 69–79.
3.
BergR. L., HallauerD. S., & BerkS. N. (1976). Neglected aspects of the quality of life. Health Service Research, 11, 391–395.
4.
CametoR. (1990). Quality of life: Its conceptualization and use as a tool for social policy. Unpublished manuscript. San Francisco, CA: San Francisco State University.
5.
CampbellA. (1976). Subjective measures of well-being. American Psychologist, 31, 117–124.
6.
CampbellA. (1981). The sense of well-being in America. New York: McGraw-Hill.
7.
Chadsey-RuschJ. (1992). Toward defining and measuring social skills in employment settings. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 96, 405–418.
8.
ChengS. (1988). Subjective quality of life in the planning and evaluation of programs. Evaluation and Program Planning, 11, 123–134.
9.
CsikszentmihalyiM., & LeFevreJ. (1989). Optimal experience in work and leisure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 815–822.
10.
FabianE. S. (1990). Quality of life: A review of theory and practice implications for individuals with long-term mental illness. Rehabilitation Psychology, 35, 161–170.
11.
FavaG. A., & MagnaniB. (1988). Quality of life: A review of contemporary confusion. Medical Science Research, 16, 1051–1054.
12.
FosterS. L., & RitcheyW. L. (1979). Issues in the assessment of social competence in children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 625–638.
13.
Gaylord-RossR., ParkH. S., CametoR., & TappeP. (1990). An ecosocial view of school and work: Social skills, social support, and quality of life. Unpublished manuscript. San Francisco, CA: San Francisco State University.
14.
GerstenR., CrowellF., & BellamyT. (1986). Spill-over effects: Impact of vocational training on the lives of severely mentally retarded clients. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 90, 501–506.
15.
GreenK. D., & ForehandR. (1980). Assessment of children's social skills: A review of methods. Journal of Behavioral Assessment, 2, 143–159.
16.
HaringT. G. (1991). Social relationships. In MeyerL. H., PeckC. A., & BrownL. (Eds.), Critical issues in the lives of people with severe disabilities (pp. 195–217). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
17.
HughesC., HwangB., KimJ. H., EisenmanL. T., & KillianD. J. (1995). Quality of life in applied research: A review and analysis of empirical measures. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 99, 623–641.
18.
HugheyJ. B., & BardoJ. W. (1987). Social psychological dimensions of community satisfaction and quality of life: Some obtained relations. Psychological Reports, 61, 239–246.
19.
KatznerD. W. (1979). Choice and the quality of life. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Library of Social Research.
20.
KnapczykD. R., & RodesP. G. (1996). Teaching social competence: A practical approach for improving social skills in students at-risk. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
21.
LandesmanS. (1986). Quality of life and personal life satisfaction: Definition and measurement is-sues. Mental Retardation, 24, 141–143.
22.
LehmanA. F., & BurnsB. J. (1990). Severe mental illness in the community. In SpikerB. (Ed.), Quality of life assessments in clinical trials (pp. 357–366). New York: Raven Press.
23.
MilbraithL. W. (1982). A conceptualization and research strategy for the study of ecological aspects of the quality of life. Social Indicators Research, 10, 133–157.
24.
MurrellS. A., & NorrisF. H. (1983). Quality of life as the criterion for need assessment and community psychology. Journal of Community Psychology, 11, 88–97.
25.
O'ConnorG. (1983). Social support of mentally retarded persons. Mental Retardation, 2, 187–196.
26.
RamundB., & StensmanR. (1988). Quality of life and evaluation of functions among people with severely impaired mobility and non-disabled controls. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 29, 137–144.
27.
RobertsonI., RichardsonA. M., & YoungsonS. C. (1984). Social skills training with mentally handicapped people: A review. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 23, 241–264.
28.
SchalockR. L. (1990a). Quality of life: Perspectives and issues. Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation.
29.
SchalockR. L. (1990b). Attempts to conceptualize and measure quality of life. In SchalockR. L. (Ed.), Quality of life: Perspectives and issues (pp. 141–148). Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation.
30.
SchalockR. L., KeithK. D., HoffmanK., & KaranO. C. (1989). Quality of life: Its measurement and use. Mental Retardation, 27, 25–31.
31.
SchneiderM. (1976). The “quality of life” and social indicators research. Public Administration Review, 36, 297–305.
32.
StarkJ. A., & GoldsburyT. (1990). Quality of life from childhood to adulthood. In SchalockR. L. (Ed.), Quality of life: Perspectives and issues (pp. 71–83). Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation.
33.
StokesT. F., & OsnesP. G. (1986). Generalizing children's social behavior. In StrainP. S., GuralnickM. J., & WalkerH. M. (Eds.), Children's social behavior: Development, assessment, and modification (pp. 407–443). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
34.
StoreyK. (1993). A proposal for assessing integration. Education and Training in Mental Retardation, 28, 279–287.
35.
StrainP. S., StoreyK., & SmithD. J. (1991). Quality of life outcomes for young children with disabilities: Legislative and service delivery implications. Early Education and Development, 2, 40–53.
36.
SylvesterC. (1989). Quality assurance and quality of life: Accounting for the good and healthy life. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 23, 7–22.
37.
TantamD. (1988). Quality of life and the chronically mentally ill. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 34, 243–247.
38.
ZautraA. (1983). The measurement of quality in community life: Introduction to the special issue. Journal of Community Psychology, 11, 83–87.