Bangor Life Events Schedule for Intellectual Disabilities

The Bangor Life Events Schedule for Intellectual Disabilities (BLESID) was developed as part of a doctoral research programme examining the relationship between life events and psychological problems in people with intellectual disabilities (Hulbert-Williams, 2008) . The thesis investigated whether exposure to stressful life events functions as a risk factor for affective, behavioural, and other psychological difficulties in adults with intellectual disabilities. A central aim of the programme was to address the absence of psychometrically informed life events instruments tailored specifically for this population.The BLESID was constructed to reflect both methodological constraints and contextual realities relevant to people with intellectual disabilities. Many life events schedules developed for the general population include items that are less applicable (e.g., divorce, mortgage acquisition) and omit experiences that may be especially salient in intellectual disability contexts (e.g., changes in residential placement, staffing changes, service disruption, interpersonal conflict within supported environments). The BLESID was therefore designed to enhance ecological validity while remaining conceptually grounded in the broader life events research tradition.Two complementary versions were developed. The BLESID-I (Informant Version) is completed by carers or other knowledgeable proxy informants and was used in longitudinal research demonstrating that negatively valenced life events predicted subsequent psychological problems, over and above earlier levels of distress (Hulbert-Williams et al., 2014) . The BLESID-SR (Self-Report Version) was designed for semi-structured interview administration and demonstrated significant associations between self-reported life events and depression, anxiety, hostility, and anger (Hulbert-Williams et al., 2011) . Together, these studies provided cross-sectional and prospective evidence consistent with life events functioning as a risk factor for psychological problems in adults with intellectual disabilities.The BLESID is free for use in research, including replication, and in clinical application. Users are asked to cite either the peer-reviewed publications or the original thesis when employing the instrument in research or practice. No normative data are available. ReferencesHulbert-Williams, L. (2008). Life events and psychological problems in people with intellectual disabilities (Doctoral thesis, Bangor University).Hulbert-Williams, L., & Hastings, R. P. (2008). Life events as a risk factor for psychological problems in individuals with intellectual disabilities: A critical review. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research.Hulbert-Williams, L., Hastings, R. P., Crowe, R., & Pemberton, J. (2011). Self-reported life events, social support and psychological problems in adults with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 24(5), 427–436. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-3148.2011.00624.x Hulbert-Williams, L., Hastings, R., Owen, D. M., Burns, L., Day, J., Mulligan, J., & Noone, S. J. (2014). Exposure to life events as a risk factor for psychological problems in adults with intellectual disabilities: A longitudinal design. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 58(1), 48–60. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12050