The Physical Activity Support Needs and Strategies Scale: Its Development and Use.

Carbó-Carreté et al. (2016) built a brand-new scale. It asks what help adults with intellectual disability need to stay active.

Three groups filled it out: the adults themselves, their paid staff, and family members. The team then checked if all three groups answered in a steady, sensible way.

The scale scored between 0.70 and 0.80 on alpha, the simple check for "does it give the same answers each time?" That passes the rule-of-thumb bar for "good enough to use."

Factor analysis showed the questions clump together as expected. In plain words, the scale truly measures support needs for physical activity, not some random noise.

Dembo et al. (2023) did the same kind of work with the Adult Independence Living Measurement Scale. Both papers create short tools that predict how much help an adult with ID will need in everyday life. The difference is domain: one targets exercise help, the other targets cooking, money, and transport help.

Burrows et al. (2018) looked at the older SIS-A and found its scores barely budge for one to three years. That sounds like a contradiction—why make a new physical-activity scale if support needs are stable? The key is grain size. The SIS-A gives a wide snapshot; Maria’s scale zooms in on exercise, where small changes (new walking group, new bike) can matter.

Schaaf et al. (2015) built the SAID for attention problems in kids. Maria’s team used the same recipe: start fresh, keep it short, prove it works. Together these papers show the field is moving from "one giant test fits all" to "quick, targeted scales you can give before breakfast."

You now have a five-minute scale that tells you exactly what support will get your client moving. Use it at intake, re-use it after six weeks of intervention, and watch the bar move. No guesswork, no hour-long assessment battery.