Abstract
BackgroundPhysical‐activity approaches for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are more likely to be effective and sustainable if they also target direct support professionals' behaviour. However, no tools to measure the behavioural determinants for direct support professionals are available as of yet. This study aims to construct a self‐report tool to measure direct support professionals' behavioural determinants in physical‐activity support for people with ID and to analyse its psychometric properties.MethodsThe tools' sub‐scales and items corresponded with a proposed conceptual model. A pilot study was carried out to investigate and improve content validity. Construct validity and measurement precision were examined using item response theory models with data from a convenience sample of 247 direct support professionals in the support of people with ID.ResultsResults supported the three theory‐driven behaviour scales and indicated reasonable to good construct validity. The marginal reliability for the scales ranged from 0.84 to 0.87, and adequate measurement precision along the latent continua was found.ConclusionsThe tool appears to be promising for measuring the behavioural determinants of direct support professionals for the physical‐activity support of people with ID and has potential as a tool for identifying areas to focus on for interventions and policies in the future.
Highlights
Physical-activity approaches for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are more likely to be effective and sustainable if they target direct support professionals’ behaviour
There is growing recognition that interventions aimed at promoting the participation in physical activity of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) should target the physical and social environment of these people (Peterson et al 2008; Heller et al 2011; Bergström et al 2013; Kuijken et al 2016; Bossink et al 2017; Steenbergen et al 2017)
With item response theory (IRT) models, we analysed the construct validity and reliability of the three theory-driven behaviour scales for direct support professionals of people with ID
Summary
Physical-activity approaches for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are more likely to be effective and sustainable if they target direct support professionals’ behaviour. No tools to measure the behavioural determinants for direct support professionals are available as of yet. This study aims to construct a self-report tool to measure direct support professionals’ behavioural determinants in physical-activity support for people with ID and to analyse its psychometric properties. Construct validity and measurement precision were examined using item response theory models with data from a convenience sample of 247 direct support professionals in the support of people with ID. A large and essential part of this physical and social environment can be attributed to the quality and content of the support provided by direct support professionals (Buntinx & Schalock 2010). Bossink et al Physical-activity support for people with ID
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