Toward the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Rehabilitation Set: a minimal generic set of domains for rehabilitation as a health strategy

OBJECTIVE: To develop a comprehensive set of categories from the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) as a minimal standard for reporting and assessing functioning and disability in clinical populations along the continuum of care. The specific aims were to specify the domains of functioning recommended for such ICF Rehabilitation Set and to identify a minimal set of environmental factors (EFs) to be used alongside the ICF Rehabilitation Sets when describing disability across individuals and populations with various health conditions.DESIGN: A secondary analysis of existing data sets was performed using regression methods (Random Forests and Group Lasso regression) and expert consultation.SETTING: Along the continuum of care, including acute, early-post acute, and long-term and community rehabilitation settings.PARTICIPANTS: In the primary studies 9863 persons participated with various health condition. The number of respondents for whom the dependent variable data were available and used for this analysis consisted of 9264 participants.INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: For the Regression analyses, self-reported general health was used as dependent variable. The ICF categories from the functioning component and EFs component were used as independent variables for the development of the ICF Rehabilitation Set and minimal set of EFs respectively.RESULTS: Thirty ICF categories to be complemented with 12 EFs were identified as relevant for the identified ICF sets. The ICF Rehabilitation Set constitutes of 9 ICF categories from the component Body Functions and 21 from the component Activities and Participation. The minimal set of EFs contains 12 categories spanning all chapters of the EFs component of the ICF.CONCLUSION: The identified sets proposed serve as minimal generic sets of aspects of functioning in clinical populations for reporting data within and across heath conditions, time, clinical settings including rehabilitation, and countries. These sets present a reference framework for harmonizing existing information on disability across general and clinical populations.<br/