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Deafblindness: a challenge for assessment--is the ICF a useful tool?
1The Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Orebro and Linköping University, Orebro, Sweden. kerstin.moller@ivo.oru.se
International Journal of Audiology
|August 16, 2003
Summary
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) has strengths but limitations in describing deafblindness. Further development is needed to capture variations in functioning and quality of life impacts.
Area of Science:
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Disability Studies
- Health Sciences
Background:
- The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) offers a framework for describing health and disability.
- Understanding the lived experiences of individuals with deafblindness is crucial for refining disability classification systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the strengths and limitations of the ICF framework when applied to individuals with deafblindness.
- To identify specific aspects of functioning and participation in deafblind individuals that are not adequately captured by the current ICF.
Main Methods:
- A qualitative study involving 32 adults with deafblindness (ranging in age from 19 to 92 years).
- Data collection utilized questionnaires and personal interviews to gather comprehensive information on participants' experiences.
- The study focused on difficulties encountered in activities and participation across various life domains.
Main Results:
- Participants reported challenges in activities and participation across nearly all investigated items within the ICF framework.
- Five key areas were identified as inadequately addressed by the ICF: rapid functional changes, activity avoidance due to health, time loss affecting quality of life, impairment-related health risks, and the impact of obligations.
- These findings highlight a gap between the ICF's descriptive capabilities and the complex realities of living with deafblindness.
Conclusions:
- The ICF provides a valuable foundation for describing disability but requires enhancement to fully encompass the experiences of individuals with deafblindness.
- Specific limitations include the inability to account for dynamic variations in functioning, voluntary activity cessation, time-related quality of life impacts, specific health risks, and the role of obligations.
- Further development of the ICF is recommended to improve its applicability and comprehensiveness for diverse disability populations.