Questionnaires used in complex trauma intervention evaluations and consideration of their utility for autistic adults with mild intellectual disability: A systematic review.
ERQ and DERS are the best-supported measures to start validating for trauma-related emotion dysregulation in autistic adults with mild ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team hunted every paper that tested trauma questionnaires on adults with both autism and mild intellectual disability.
They kept only studies that reported solid psychometric data.
After the sift, they ranked each tool for reliability and validity.
What they found
Two measures stood out: the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS).
These tools had the strongest evidence for capturing trauma-linked emotion problems in autistic adults with mild ID.
Other questionnaires lacked enough proof to trust yet.
How this fits with other research
Ooms-Evers et al. (2021) and Penninx Quevedo et al. (2021) already show that trauma treatment works for people with mild ID.
Their studies used adult and youth samples, but they did not use ERQ or DERS to track change.
The new review fills that gap by pointing to the exact tools those programs should adopt.
Weiss et al. (2001) built an autism-only stress survey, yet it never tackled trauma.
Sarah et al. now extend that line of work into the trauma realm with validated, ready-to-use scales.
Why it matters
You now have a short list of two evidence-based forms to add to your intake packet.
Start with ERQ or DERS before trauma treatment, repeat after, and you will have data that other clinicians can trust.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
INTRODUCTION: Research suggests some trauma symptoms e.g. avoidance are difficult to recognise in autistic people with intellectual disability while arousal/emotional and interpersonal difficulties may be useful signals. This review aims to (i) identify questionnaires used in general population complex trauma interventions to measure emotional and interpersonal difficulty and (ii) evaluate their psychometric properties to inform selection of a potential measure/s for use and/or adaptation for autistic people with mild intellectual disability and trauma related mental health conditions. METHODS: Stage 1: we searched Medline, Cinahl, Embase and PsycInfo for general population and clinical complex trauma intervention studies. Stage 2: we used a search filter in Embase to identify psychometric evaluations of relevant questionnaires used in Stage 1 studies and assessed these with the COnsensus based Standards for the selection of health based Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) checklist. RESULTS: five studies were identified in Stage 1 utilising three measures of emotion dysregulation and interpersonal difficulties. Thirty-three articles on their psychometric properties were identified in Stage 2. Strongest psychometric evidence was found for the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). CONCLUSIONS: Evaluating content validity/acceptability of the ERQ and DERS for autistic people with mild intellectual disability and trauma-related mental health conditions are useful next steps.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104039