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International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)
is a conceptual framework that provides standardized terminology and classification
of the consequences of diseases. The classification was first published for
trial purposes in 1980 as the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities
and Handicaps (ICIDH). Since its publication, the classification has been used
in a variety of areas and has specific applications in clinical diagnosis, rehabilitation
assessment, disability policy planning and survey research. Under the auspices
of the World Health
Organization (WHO), ICIDH was revised and renamed ICF in 2001. CIHI coordinated
Canadian input to the revision process.
Scope
ICF is a classification of health and health related domains that describe:
- body functions and structures;
- activities and participation; and
- environmental factors.
The domains are classified from body, individual and societal perspectives.
Benefits
ICF provides a common language and framework for the description of human functioning
and disability as an important component of health and social care. This standardization
of language supports:
- improved communication between sectors and people with disabilities;
- facilitates the comparison of data nationally and internationally;
- establishes a culturally applicable tool covering the whole life span; and
can be used in service event data sets as well as survey questionnaires.
- It offers a conceptual framework for information that is applicable to
personal health care, including prevention, health promotion, and the improvement
of participation by removing or mitigating societal hindrances and encouraging
the provision of societal supports and facilitators. It is also useful for
the study of health care systems, in terms of both evaluation and policy formulation.
Coding Structure
The ICF classification is organized in a hierarchical scheme. The components
of Body Functions and Structure, Activities and Participation and Environmental
Factors are classified independently. Within each component, the categories
are arranged in a stem-branch-leaf scheme, so that a lower-level category shares
the attributes of the higher-level categories of which it is a member. Categories,
which are the unit of classification, are mutually exclusive. More than one
category can be used to describe an individual's functioning.
ICF uses an alphanumeric system in which the letter b, s, d and
eare used to denote Body Functions and Body Structures, Activities and Participation
and Environmental Factors. These letters are followed by a numeric code that
starts with the chapter number (one digit), followed by the second level (two
digits), and the third and fourth levels (one digit each). The ICF codes are
only complete with the presence of a qualifier, which denotes a magnitude of
the level of health (e.g. severity of the problem). Qualifiers are coded as
one, two or more numbers after a point (or separator).
Related Documents
Contact
icf@cihi.ca
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