Objectives: To evaluate in a pilot study the usefulness of measures of heal
th and psychosocial status for use with young people with physical and comp
lex disability. Also to test empirically a conceptual model of the factors
determining key outcomes in young disabled adults, in particular, participa
tion (handicap).
Design: A cross-sectional study involving face-to-face interviews with youn
g adults aged 16-28 years (n = 45) with physical and complex disabilities.
A group of nondisabled college students completed the same set of questions
to provide normative scores for some psychosocial measures.
Setting: Young people with physical disabilities were recruited from the ar
ea of North and North East Lincolnshire, and nondisabled young people from
the Leeds area.
Methods: Standardized measures of impairment, disability and handicap, toge
ther with various psychosocial scales were incorporated into a structured f
ace-to-face interview. Standardized measures included the Nottingham Health
Profile (NHP), the Barthel Index, the London Handicap Scale, Rosenberg's S
elf-esteem Scale and the Proactive Scale.
Results: Regression analysis showed the most important predictors of partic
ipation were energy and pain (NHP), disability (Barthel) and self-efficacy.
Most of the health status measures were able to discriminate between disab
led and nondisabled young people, but some measures lacked face validity fo
r the 'nonwalking' disabled group.
Conclusions: Both health status and psychosocial factors were found to impa
ct on the participation of young people. Impairment and disability however,
did not impact adversely on self-ratings of health or quality of life and
it is clear from these results that having a disability may limit participa
tion, but is not necessarily synonymous with a poorer quality of life.