The development of a new measure for the assessment of psychopathology in adults with intellectual disability.
The DBC-A is a solid carer checklist that spots mental health issues in adults with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a new checklist for carers of adults with intellectual disability.
They called it the Developmental Behaviour Checklist for Adults (DBC-A).
The study tested if the form gave steady scores and truly picked up mental health problems.
What they found
The DBC-A passed the key tests.
It gave similar scores when carers filled it out again, and it matched clinician ratings.
In plain words, the checklist works.
How this fits with other research
Spanoudis et al. (2011) later showed paid carers in group homes can use the same form reliably.
Their inter-rater score was 0.69, so you can trust two carers who share care of one adult.
Straccia et al. (2014) translated the DBC-A into French and found the same six-factor shape, proving the tool holds up across languages.
Oliver et al. (2002) had already proven the child version; the adult form simply grew from that base.
Why it matters
You now have a free, 96-item carer form that screens for mood, anxiety, and behavior problems in adults with ID.
Use it at intake, annual reviews, or when staff report new concerns.
One completed form gives you a quick flag for referral or further assessment.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Print the DBC-A, give it to the day-program staff who know the client best, and use the total score to decide if a referral is needed.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: People with intellectual disability (ID) and untreated psychiatric disorder lead unnecessarily difficult and unhappy lives. The prevalence of mental illness in children and adults with ID is greater than that found in the general population. A carer-completed checklist of psychopathology that could be used with both children and adults would help identify those individuals with ID most likely to have a mental health problem, help ensure that they receive the limited services that are usually available and also assist the process of clinical assessment, diagnosis and management. METHOD: This research aimed to develop a reliable and valid carer-completed checklist of psychopathology for adults with ID by redeveloping an existing measure for children with ID, the Developmental Behaviour Checklist (DBC-P). The new checklist, The Developmental Behaviour Checklist for Adults (DBC-A) was devised by changing, deleting and adding to DBC-P items. Reliability studies were conducted with paid and family carers, and DBC-A scores were compared with the results from two other measures of psychopathology. RESULTS: One DBC-P item was deleted, seven items changed and 12 items added. The psychometric properties of this new checklist, the DBC for Adults with ID (DBC-A), were investigated and found to be satisfactory. Intraclass correlations for test-retest and inter-rater reliability ranged from 0.72 to 0.85, and concurrent validity with two measures of emotional and behavioural disturbance was satisfactory. CONCLUSIONS: The carer-completed DBC-A provides a broad and comprehensive survey of the emotional and behavioural problems of adults with ID. It has satisfactory psychometric properties and therefore can be used with confidence in clinical, research and service settings, and its development allows continuous assessment of psychopathology across the lifespan for all people with ID.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2005 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2005.00701.x