Measuring and Tracking Personal Opportunity Outcome Measures Over 3 Years to Guide Policy and Services That Promote Inclusive Community Living.

National policy and litigation have been a catalyst in many states for expanding personal outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and have served as an impetus for change in state IDD systems. Although several metrics are used to examine personal outcomes, the National Core Indicators (NCI) In-Person Survey (IPS) is one tool that provides an annual depiction of the lives of people who receive Medicaid Home and Community Based IDD waiver services (HCBS). This article examines whether a validated, three-factor (Privacy Rights, Everyday Choice, and Community Participation) measure of Personal Opportunity, derived from NCI items, functions as predicted across non-equivalent, NCI cohorts (N=2400) from Virginia in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Multiple-groups confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to examine the invariance and generalizability of the Personal Opportunity constructs. Results indicated that Privacy Rights, Everyday Choice, and Community Participation measured the same concepts even when time and group varied. Significant improvements in Privacy Rights and Community Participation were observed when comparing latent factor means across years. Findings provide stakeholders with a tool for interpreting personal outcomes in the contexts of policy and practice intended to improve inclusion and quality of life for adults with IDD.