Illustrating child-specific linking issues using the Child Health Questionnaire

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Disability Studies

Background:

• The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Children and Youth (ICF-CY) is a derived classification of the ICF, enabling child health and disability research.
• Limited literature discusses challenges in linking ICF-CY to child health instruments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore challenges in linking child health instruments to the ICF-CY.
• To apply linking rules and new insights to a child-specific instrument, the Child Health Questionnaire.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Child Health Questionnaire as a case study for linking to the ICF-CY.
• Applied existing linking rules and new reflections on the linking process.

Main Results:

• Identified the necessity of child health assessment knowledge for effective linking.
• Highlighted difficulties in linking child behavior information.
• Emphasized the importance of clarifying the linking perspective (child, parent, family).
• Stressed the need to consider item purpose before linking to ICF-CY, regardless of item simplicity.
• Proposed a new abbreviation, not-defined-development (nd-dv), for items assessing overall child development.

Conclusions:

• Linking child health instruments to the ICF-CY requires careful consideration of multiple factors.
• Accurate implementation of ICF-CY necessitates domain-specific knowledge and methodological clarity.
• The proposed nd-dv abbreviation may aid in standardizing the classification of child development items.