A preliminary study of perceived stress in adults with intellectual disabilities according to self-report and informant ratings.

BACKGROUND Stress is a major risk factor for mental health problems in individuals with intellectual disabilities, however few studies on stress have been conducted that take into account the perspective of both the person with the disability and the caregiver. The present study evaluated an informant version of the Lifestress Inventory, and compared it to the self-report version. METHOD Seventy individuals with intellectual disability paired with their caregivers completed the Lifestress Inventory, the Inventory of Negative Social Interactions and the Birleson Depression Scale. RESULTS Informant and self-report ratings on the Lifestress Inventory were internally reliable, showed modest agreement with each other and correlated with the Negative Social Interactions and Depression measures. The most troublesome stressors reported by informants and self-reports differed, however, and families tended to agree more with self-reports than did staff informants. CONCLUSIONS The informant version of the Lifestress Inventory is a suitable parallel instrument but not a replacement for self-reports.