Associations between environmental factors and adaptive skills of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in educational settings

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between environmental factors and target adaptive skills of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities at educational settings. An online survey, which consisted of the Environmental Evaluation (EE) and Performance Measure (PM), was used to measure environmental attributes and target adaptive skills, respectively. This study considered 26 environmental items identified from a systematic review on evidence-based design and evidence-based practice. Factor analyses categorized the 26 environmental items into four components: affordance, restoration, control, and coherence. Multiple regression results supported that the identified environmental items were positively related to students’ adaptive skills when their disability levels were controlled (the Environ-Adaptive Skill model; F (2, 90.13) = 25.363, R2 = 0.278, p < .001). Specifically, restorative features were associated with conceptual/practical skills (F (2, 383.04) = 31.77, R2 = 0.301, p < .001), and the controllable characteristics were relevant to social skills (F (2, 37.77) = 12.068, R2 = 0.181, p < .001).