Youth Disability Screener (YDS)
A 4-item measure for obtaining self-reported disability status from youth ages 11-18 (available below).
Youth with disabilities are a group with special needs in maintaining health and function. One problem in identifying children and youth with disabilities is the lack of consensus on how to define the group. Definitions have typically been based on the presence of specific medical conditions. Recently, however, there has been a shift from definition by condition toward a broader definition of disability that encompasses health condition, function, activity, and participation. The model resulting for this broader definition suggests that both environmental and personal factors play a role in disability. To assess disability among youth, the Seattle Quality of Life Group (formerly known as the Youth Quality of Life (seaqol) Group), developed a 4-item screener based partly on the 1994 National Health Interview Survey on Disability (NHIS-D) (National Center for Health Statistics, 1994), and partly on the Questionnaire for Identifying Children with Chronic Conditions (QuICCC) (Stein, Westbrook, & Bauman, 1997), both of which are parent-reported. The Youth Disability Screener (YDS) uses a 'non-categorical' approach to disability identification as follows:
- Disability is a limitation or inability to perform important life activities in a manner considered appropriate for the age and social role of the person because of a long-lasting (defined as lasting or expected to last 6 months or more) physical, mental, or emotional condition.
- This definition follows very closely the definition of disability used in Healthy People 2010 which defines disability as: Persons having an activity limitation, who use assistance, or who perceive themselves as having a disability.
The YDS definition extends the Healthy People 2010 definition by including a question regarding whether others would consider them to have a disability. This was taken from the NHIS-D and has its origins in the social model of disability, which indicates that disability resides in the environment rather than in the individual. Thus, we acknowledge that some individuals, whom others may consider to be persons with a disability, do not consider themselves disabled. The time qualification of 6 months was based on the work of Stein (1993).
