Disability Wellbeing Index (DWI): Analysis of Qualitative Components with Adult and Young People with Disability

Abstract

The Centre for Disability Research and Policy (CDRP), University of Sydney, was contracted to contribute to a three-year research project, 2022-2024, funded by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and lead by Associate Professor Gang Chen, Monash University. The overarching aim of this research project was to design and test a preference-based wellbeing instrument that captures factors impacting on the wellbeing of people with disability in Australia, now known as the Disability Wellbeing Index (DWI). The role of the team based at the CDRP was to facilitate people with disabilities being involved in each stage of the research, including accessibility, safe environment, and self-reporting considerations for survey respondents. This is the first of four reports documenting the contribution of the team at the Centre for Disability Research and Policy. This report describes the results of a qualitative analysis of focus groups and interviews conducted in 2022 with adults and young people with disability to explore their perspectives on initial versions of the DWI and issues of concern to be addressed in the implementation of the DWI. The findings from this study informed the refinement of DWI domains, items, and descriptors, and helped to identify wider issues that needed to be further explored, including safety considerations such as the context within which people complete the DWI and the accessibility of the DWI.