Abstract
This study examined the reliability of an instrument, portions of which have been used in previous research, to evaluate services provided to people with developmental disabilities. Seven types of variables were analyzed: demographic data, residential arrangements, medical needs, adaptive behavior, severity of challenging behavior, frequency of challenging behavior, and the perceptions that disabled residents have of their living situations. Data resulted from accidentally interviewing residents (and their caregivers) twice in 1991 (N = 49) and 1992 (N = 86) who received services from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services Developmental Disabilities Service Division. High reliabilities were found when interviewing caregivers about demographic data, residents' adaptive behavior, severity of residents' challenging behavior, and frequency of residents' challenging behavior as well as from residents own perceptions of their living situations. High test-retest reliability was also apparent when asking residents about food quality. These results suggest that reasonably reliable information can be obtained from both caregivers and persons with developmental disabilities.
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