Field trial of ICF version for children and youth (ICF-CY) in Sweden: Logical coherence, developmental issues and clinical use

• Published in: Developmental neurorehabilitation Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 3 - 11
• Main Authors: Ibragimova, Nina, Granlund, Mats, Björck-Åkesson, Eva
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 01-01-2009
• Subjects: Adolescent; Analysis of Variance; Child; Child, Preschool; clinical use; Developmental Disabilities - classification; Developmental Disabilities - rehabilitation; developmental issues; Disability Evaluation; Disability Science; Disabled Children - classification; Disabled Children - rehabilitation; Feasibility Studies; Female; Handikappvetenskap; Humans; ICF-CY; International Classification of Diseases; intervention; logical coherence; Male; Pedagogiskt arbete; Pedgogical work; Probability; Risk Factors; SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP; Sensitivity and Specificity; SOCIAL SCIENCES; Socialvetenskap; Surveys and Questionnaires - classification; Sweden; Sweden
• ISSN: 1751-8423; 1751-8431; 1751-8431
• DOI: 10.1080/17518420902777001

Introduction: For ICF-CY to be used in clinical practice several issues have to be resolved concerning the logical coherence in the model, developmental and functional issues as well as clinical feasibility.
Purpose: The aim is to investigate feasibility of ICF-CY as expressed by ICF-CY questionnaires in assessment prior to intervention.
Methods: One hundred and thirty-nine professionals working with intervention for children with disabilities used ICF-CY questionnaires in assessment. The professionals rated and commented on the feasibility of ICF-CY and ICF-CY questionnaire. Logical coherence, developmental issues and clinical use were investigated.
Results: The logical coherence on component level was good (KMO = 0.126, p < 0.005). To investigate developmental and functional issues in the model children, four age groups were compared with the help of one-way ANOVA. Significant differences were found between children younger than 3 and children 3-6 and 7-12 in four chapters in the component Activities/Participation. Professionals consider that ICF-CY is feasible in intervention but experience difficulties when using the components and qualifiers in the ICF-CY and suggest changes.
Discussion: ICF-CY as expressed in ICF-CY questionnaires is a feasible tool in assessment and intervention. However, several issues can be developed and discussed to facilitate implementation of ICF-CY in clinical practice.