Defining and measuring emotional well-being in intellectual and developmental disabilities: A scoping review.
Most ‘emotional well-being’ tools for IDD are really quality-of-life scales with only a few true mood items—choose carefully and expect gaps.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mercier et al. (2025) searched for tools that measure emotional well-being in people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. They found 20 questionnaires that ask clients how they feel inside. The team read every paper and noted how many items truly target happiness, calm, or hope versus general life quality.
What they found
Most so-called emotional-well-being scales are really quality-of-life checklists with only a handful of mood questions. Few tools report strong reliability or validity data. Gaps are large; no single measure covers the full feeling picture.
How this fits with other research
Windsor et al. (2025) also published this year. They reviewed communication questionnaires for the same group and likewise found none fully sound. Together the two papers warn that 2025 ID toolkits still lack gold-standard forms.
Goodwin et al. (2012) catalogued psychopathology scales years earlier. Their list helps you find anxiety or depression screens, while Alecia’s list points to positive-mood tools. Use both shelves to cover the full emotional range.
Vos et al. (2010) showed that people with profound ID score lower on happiness than those with mild ID. Alecia’s findings explain part of that problem: we have not agreed on how to measure their feelings, so scores may reflect the tool rather than the person.
Why it matters
Before you write an emotional-well-being goal, check the scale. If it mostly asks about housing or day-program choice, it is a quality-of-life tool, not a mood meter. Pick the few items that truly tap happiness, or add simple daily smile charts. Share the Alecia list with your team so everyone stops treating any “feel-good” score as true emotional data.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
OBJECTIVE: This review aimed to compile and report on existing emotional well-being (EWB) subjective report measures that have been developed, adapted, or validated on individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). METHOD: Following PRISMA guidelines, this review searched three databases using search terms related to EWB, IDD, and measurement. Two independent reviewers screened titles and abstracts, then reviewed the full texts to include articles that used an EWB-related measure, had an IDD sample, and reported psychometric evidence (% agreement = 97.41, k = 91.92). For each included article, two coders extracted data, and an item analysis was performed to identify EWB and non-EWB items included in each located measure. RESULTS: This review identified 33 articles and 20 subjective report measures that were developed, adapted, or validated for individuals with IDD. Most existing measures focus on quality of life rather than treating EWB as a distinct, stand-alone construct, and include only a few EWB items. The included measures were mostly validated on adults and older adults with mild to moderate ID and show varying psychometric evidence across and within measures. CONCLUSIONS: This review clarifies the current state of EWB measurement in individuals with IDD and provides an organized summary of existing EWB measures. These findings can guide the continued development of EWB research in the IDD population by identifying knowledge gaps and pointing to future directions. Findings also help inform the selection of subjective report measures for assessing EWB in individuals with IDD.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1007/BF02408386