The Resident Choice Scale: a measure to assess opportunities for self-determination in residential settings.
A 26-item checklist reliably shows that more daily choice goes hand-in-hand with fewer behavior problems and better life quality for adults in group homes.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a 26-item checklist called the Resident Choice Scale. Staff use it to count how many daily choices adults with intellectual disability get in group homes.
They tested if two raters agreed and if the scores matched other good measures. They also looked at whether more choice linked to fewer behavior problems and better life quality.
What they found
The scale earned high inter-rater reliability. That means two staff members usually scored the same resident the same way.
Residents who scored higher on choice also showed higher ability, less challenging behavior, and better quality-of-life signs.
How this fits with other research
Luiselli et al. (2026) extends this work. They made a DSP-friendly form that tracks quality-of-life signs in the same setting. You can use both tools together: one for choice, one for life quality.
Chen et al. (2001) used the same short-form trick. They trimmed a 73-item adaptive behavior scale to 24 items and kept strong reliability. It shows brief scales can still be solid.
LeSage et al. (1996) built the Nisonger CBRF for kids. Both studies prove that well-built rating forms work across age groups, but each form stays tied to its own age band.
Why it matters
You now have a quick, free way to measure self-determination in your facility. Run the 26 items during quarterly reviews. Share the score with the team and set goals like adding two new daily choices for residents who score low. More choice links to less problem behavior, so everyone wins.
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Join Free →Pick one resident, complete the 26-item scale, and add one new choice to their daily schedule based on the lowest-scoring area.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: A 26-item Resident Choice Scale was designed to assess service practices for promoting resident choice. METHOD: The staff working with 560 UK/Irish adults with intellectual disability were interviewed. Specific examples of practices promoting resident choice were requested and independently rated by the interviewer. RESULTS: The interrater reliability of Resident Choice items was found to be acceptable (subsample n = 50). The psychometric properties of the Resident Choice Scale total score and scores on eight subscales were also acceptable. Consistently strong associations were found between greater resident choice and greater resident ability and, to a lesser extent, fewer resident challenging behaviours. Few associations were found between resident choice and autism or mental health problems. Even when controlling for resident ability and challenging behaviour, consistent associations were found between greater resident choice and the concurrent variables of greater community presence, fewer institutional practices, and greater user self-reported satisfaction (subsample n = 50). CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, this pattern of results indicates that the Resident Choice Scale shows promise as a measure of the environmental opportunities available for adults with intellectual disability to exercise self-determination. Areas for future research testing the reliability and validity of the Resident Choice Scale are outlined.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2004 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2004.00499.x