Report on the Development of Alternative Formats and Support Options for the Disability Wellbeing Index (DWI): Promoting Accessibility, Safety, and Self-Reporting for Survey Respondents

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 third of four reports documenting the contribution of the team at the CDRP. In this report, we describe the process undertaken by the CDRP team from July-September 2023 to develop a suite of alternative formats and support options designed to address accessibility for self-report and safety considerations for completing the DWI. The final versions of the DWI preference weighting survey and support options offered to survey respondents are also presented.