Walking speed and physical endurance level of adults residing in disability homes.

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In shaping a more inclusive society, care for adults with intellectual disability (ID) is important. Some of these adults are not able to care for themselves independently with risk of falling and thus reside within specialised residential facilities, also known as disability homes in Singapore. Apart from cognitive functioning, the physical capacity of these adults (residents) is important for them to be able to integrate with the community. Gait speed is recognised as the sixth vital sign of a person, while endurance provides an understanding of the physical capacity of a person to function independently in the community. The residents are routinely assessed in clinical tests such as 10-metre walk test and 6-minute walk test among many other tests, but some require modified instructions to complete the test. To our knowledge, there are no studies that explored normative values of adults with ID. Therefore, the primary aims of the study are to establish normative values of 4-metre walk test, 10-metre walk test, 2-minute walk test and 6-minute walk test in adults with intellectual disability. The secondary aims of the study are to investigate the association of the 4-metre walk test with 10-metre walk test, 2-minute walk test with 6-minute walk test in residents living in adult disability homes, and to explore demographic factors of the residents that influence their speed and endurance, as well as differences in speed and endurance between fallers and non-fallers.