Validity and reliability of the Diagnostic Adaptive Behaviour Scale.
The DABS is a reliable new tool that fills the adult gap left by earlier child-focused ID scales.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a new test called the Diagnostic Adaptive Behaviour Scale. They wanted to see if it measures daily-living skills the same way across raters and over time. They checked its numbers against older tools used for intellectual disability diagnosis.
What they found
The DABS passed every check. It lined up well with trusted scales. Different raters gave similar scores, and scores stayed steady when people were tested again. The tool is ready for real-world use.
How this fits with other research
Einfeld et al. (1995) did the same kind of work on the Developmental Behaviour Checklist for kids. Their strong results set the pattern that the DABS now follows for adults.
McKenzie et al. (2012) showed the CAIDS-Q screener is good at flagging kids who need full testing. The DABS adds the full testing part, so the two tools fit end-to-end.
Papazoglou et al. (2014) warned that DSM-5’s single-domain rule cuts ID diagnoses by nine percent. The DABS gives you precise adaptive scores, helping you decide who still qualifies under the tighter rule.
Why it matters
You now have a psychometrically solid scale that covers the adaptive domain DSM-5 demands. Use it to document deficits, justify eligibility, and show change over time. One concrete step: add the DABS to your intake battery and compare its scores with older Vineland results to double-check borderline cases.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The Diagnostic Adaptive Behaviour Scale (DABS) is a new standardised adaptive behaviour measure that provides information for evaluating limitations in adaptive behaviour for the purpose of determining a diagnosis of intellectual disability. This article presents validity evidence and reliability data for the DABS. METHOD: Validity evidence was based on comparing DABS scores with scores obtained on the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale, second edition. The stability of the test scores was measured using a test and retest, and inter-rater reliability was assessed by computing the inter-respondent concordance. RESULTS: The DABS convergent validity coefficients ranged from 0.70 to 0.84, while the test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.78 to 0.95, and the inter-rater concordance as measured by intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.61 to 0.87. CONCLUSIONS: All obtained validity and reliability indicators were strong and comparable with the validity and reliability coefficients of the most commonly used adaptive behaviour instruments. These results and the advantages of the DABS for clinician and researcher use are discussed.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2016 · doi:10.1111/jir.12239