Occupational Therapists' Perspective on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core...

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets (CSs) for schizophrenia are sets of ICF categories that are relevant specifically to the functioning and disability of people with schizophrenia.

To identify the problems occupational therapists commonly encounter when treating people with schizophrenia and to validate the ICF-CSs for schizophrenia from their perspective.

Three-round Delphi study using online surveys distributed to occupational therapists worldwide. Participants were asked which problems with functioning they considered most relevant when treating people with schizophrenia.

Occupational therapists experienced in the treatment of people with schizophrenia.

Responses were linked to the ICF categories by two trained health professionals, and a statistical measure of agreement and κ coefficient were calculated.

Ninety-two occupational therapists from 29 countries in all six World Health Organization regions named 2,527 meaningful concepts. After the linking process, 121 ICF categories and 31 Personal Factors were presented to the expert panel, who reached consensus (agreement of ≥75%) on 97 ICF categories and 27 Personal Factors. Consensus was reached on the 25 categories in the Brief ICF-CS for schizophrenia and 89 of the 97 categories in the Comprehensive ICF-CS for schizophrenia.

The ICF Core Sets for schizophrenia were validated from the perspective of occupational therapists and are potentially useful tools for clinical practice because they cover a wide variety of problems that occupational therapists deal with in interventions with people with schizophrenia.

The ICF-CSs for schizophrenia are useful guides for describing and classifying functioning, disability, and health to aid occupational therapy intervention with people with schizophrenia. Occupational therapists are essential in the rehabilitation of this client population, and their perspective has contributed to the development and enrichment of the ICF-CSs for schizophrenia.