[The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health and experience of its implementation into...

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) organizes and classifies health and other related conditions, their consequences, and factors. The aim of this article is to summarize the experience of implementation of the ICF and possibilities for its application based on the recent literature data. This article gives brief information about background and history of the ICF development; essential ICF regulations and aims are defined as well as data on designing the methods of evaluation of health and other conditions related to it according to the ICF and their practical use in various rehabilitation spheres are presented. Examples of other countries where the ICF is accepted and implemented in social security sphere are given. After summarizing the information on experience of the ICF implementation in other countries, the following aspects are emphasized: evaluation methods of functional state for patients and disabled are being developed and implemented according to the Comprehensive and Brief ICF Core Sets; the need for service in rehabilitation, geriatrics, and social security spheres is identified; the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs is evaluated based on the changes of personal functionality, described by the ICF categories. Development of a rehabilitation program is illustrated by the example of practical application of the ICF. According to the experience of other countries, guidelines of the ICF implementation into practice in Lithuania are given.