Quality of Life Among Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

In recent decades, researchers have shown an increased interest in people with intellectual disabilities, as evidenced by the numerous research articles and book chapters written on this topic. This research developed in accordance with the new social politics sustained by the community and national laws and principles that promote the independence and autonomy of this population, Using the Quality of Life Inventory, developed by Michael B. Frisch, we surveyed 36 people active in the work field, diagnosed with mild and moderate intellectual disability. We found that women and men have different hierarchies of importance and satisfaction with life domains: self-esteem, money, goals, and values are important to men, and health, love, work, help, and children are important to women. We also found that health is the most problematic area for this population category, that men and people under 39 show a higher level of overall satisfaction with quality of life. The degree of impairment of the intellectual disability does not determine a low global quality of life score, since there are no major differences between people with mild intellectual disability and those with moderate intellectual disability in terms of the global level of quality of life