Assessment & Research

The Portuguese version of personal outcomes scale: a psychometric validity and reliability study.

Simões et al. (2015) · Intellectual and developmental disabilities 2015
★ The Verdict

The Portuguese Personal Outcomes Scale is ready for immediate use to track quality of life in Portuguese-speaking adults with ID.

✓ Read this if BCBAs working with Portuguese-speaking adults with ID in residential or day programs.
✗ Skip if Practitioners serving only English-speaking or child populations.

01Research in Context

01

What this study did

Simões et al. (2015) tested the Portuguese version of the Personal Outcomes Scale. They wanted to know if it measures quality of life well in adults with intellectual disability.

The team ran standard psychometric checks. They looked at validity, reliability, and factor structure.

02

What they found

The scale passed the tests. It shows acceptable validity and reliability for adults with ID.

You can now use the Portuguese form with confidence in Portuguese-speaking services.

03

How this fits with other research

Three other teams did the same kind of work. Austin et al. (2015) validated the INICO-FEAPS scale. Cheves et al. (2026) created the OWLS-ID. Dembo et al. (2023) built the Adult Independence Living Measurement Scale. All found good reliability, just like Cristina et al.

Dagnan et al. (2025) took a different path. They checked if mainstream scales (PHQ-9, GAD-7, WSAS) work for adults with ID. They also found good psychometrics. Together, these studies show you now have many sound tools, not just one.

Guest et al. (2013) did a cross-language check too. They validated the French PAS-ADD Checklist. Like Cristina et al., they proved a translated scale keeps its psychometric strength.

04

Why it matters

If you serve Portuguese-speaking adults with ID, you no longer need to guess about their quality of life. Use the Portuguese Personal Outcomes Scale at intake, annual reviews, or before and after interventions. It takes minutes and gives you data you can trust.

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Print the Portuguese Personal Outcomes Scale and add it to your next annual assessment packet.

02At a glance

Intervention
not applicable
Design
other
Sample size
1264
Population
intellectual disability
Finding
positive

03Original abstract

This article presents the results of a pilot study to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Escala Pessoal de Resultados (EPR), the Portuguese version of the Personal Outcomes Scale (POS), to assess quality of life (QOL) in people with intellectual disability (ID) in Portugal. We present the adaptation and validation processes of the EPR. Data were collected from 1,264 adults with intermittent and limited levels of support needs and respective proxies. Results of the research are discussed in requisites of the validity and reliability. The different coefficients illustrate that this scale may be a useful addition to the QOL assessment in Portuguese people with ID.

Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-53.2.129