ICF: A Hands-on Approach for Clinicians and Families

This accessible handbook introduces the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to professionals working with children with disabilities and their families. It contains an overview of the elements of the ICF but focusses on practical applications, including how the ICF framework can be used with children, families and carers to formulate health and management goals. The Appendices contain case studies for individuals and interdisciplinary teams to work through and discuss, alongside other resources, and a copy of an ICF code set for children and youth is available to download online (see Further Material).

The first practical manual of the ICF
Rich in case examples
Great workbook for team development using the ICF as a common language

From the Introduction by Peter Rosenbaum:

“From time to time in the field of healthcare, an exciting new development emerges to challenge and potentially transform thinking and behaviour. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and its framework is undoubtedly one of these transformative resources and is increasingly widely used in the field of childhood disability.”

Watch Peter Rosenbaum discuss the book with Bernard Dan, Editor-in-Chief of the DMCN:

Readership: clinicians and paediatricians in neurodisability, service providers in neurodisability, community-based health professionals, and the families of children with disabilities.

Original Title: Die ICF-CY in der Praxis

by Olaf Kraus de Camargo and Liane Simon

Olaf Kraus de Camargo (Editor)

Olaf Kraus de Camargo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at McMaster University. He completed his medical education and paediatric training in Brazil, followed by a residency in Germany where he received training in developmental-behavioural paediatrics and child neurology. Prior to joining the faculty at McMaster, Dr. Kraus de Camargo held positions as a Professor of Social Medicine at the University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen and as CEO and Medical Director of Kinderzentrum Pelzerhaken gGmbH in Germany, an inpatient and outpatient facility for children with developmental-behavioural disabilities and chronic neurologic disorders.

Since 2001, Olaf Kraus de Camargo has been involved with the implementation of the WHO - International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), initially in neuro-rehabilitation and later in implementing it into Early Intervention Centres in Germany. Together with Judith Hollenweger, he edited the German translation of the ICF-CY (Children and Youth Version) for WHO. With Liane Simon he co-authored the first handbook about clinical applications of the ICF-CY in Germany. He contributes with his expertise as a collaborator to the Functioning and Disability Reference Group of the Family of Classification of WHO. At McMaster, Dr. Kraus de Camargo is introducing ICF into education models, clinical practice and research. His goal is to develop an electronic version of the ICF (the mICF ICanFunction mHealth Solution) to empower patients to better describe their needs to clinicians. He also is a co-founder and editor of an educational website called ICFEducation.

Liane Simon (Editor)

Liane Simon is a special educator and systemic therapist working for more than 20 years as a clinical director of an Early Childhood Intervention Centre in northern Germany. She obtained her doctoral degree at the University of Hamburg and works as a professor for Transdisciplinary Early Childhood Intervention at MSH Medical School Hamburg. She is the Head of the Department “Family, Child and Social Work”, co-chair of the Association for Interdisciplinary Early Intervention in Northern Germany and member of the board of the German Association for Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Intervention. Dr. Simon is using the ICF-CY in interprofessional settings since 2004 and is involved in implementing the ICF-CY in Germany for diagnostic procedures, goal setting and interprofessional communication in Early Childhood Intervention and Developmental Pediatrics and Childhood Rehabilitation in Germany. She is part of the FDRG (Functioning and Disability Reference Group) of WHO-Family of International Classifications as a counsellor of the German Collaborating Centre and is also a collaborator on the International ICanFunction mHealth Solution.

Gabriel M. Ronen (Editor)

Gabriel Ronen is Professor of Paediatrics at McMaster University and McMaster University Children’s Hospital, Ontario, Canada. He is a paediatric neurologist, clinician, researcher and educator. The emphasis of his work has been on how patients’ reports of their lives can and should influence healthcare.

Peter L. Rosenbaum (Editor)

Peter Rosenbaum is Professor of Paediatrics at McMaster University and the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, Ontario Canada. He is a developmental paediatrician with over 40 years’ experience of clinical, health services research and educational activities in the field of childhood disability. His passion has been to move the paradigms in childhood disability beyond a preoccupation with impairments to focus on child and family development and function.

Introduction
Peter Rosenbaum
SECTION ONE
Chapter 1: The ICF and the Biopsychosocial Model of Health: From “Disease” to “Health
Condition”
Olaf Kraus de Camargo
Chapter 2: The Concept of ‘Functioning’
Hillegonda A. Stallinga
Chapter 3: Personal Factors in Clinical Practice and Public Health
Olaf Kraus de Camargo
Chapter 4: Marriage between the ICF and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs): How
Good is the Relationship?
Gabriel M. Ronen
SECTION TWO
Chapter 5: The ICF in Clinical Practice: Case Scenarios and Exercises
Liane Simon and Olaf Kraus de Camargo
Chapter 6: The Development of Effective Health and Social Care Teams: ICF as the Glue!
Stefanus Snyman, Liane Simon and Olaf Kraus de Camargo
Chapter 7: The ICF: Themes and Tools for Health Professionals’ Education
Olaf Kraus de Camargo and Stefanus Snyman
Chapter 8: ICF Informing Administration, Policy and Advocacy
Olaf Kraus de Camargo and Jaclyn Pederson
SECTION THREE
Chapter 9: The ICF from the Parent Perspective
Jennifer Johannesen
Chapter 10: Opportunities for Future Developments of the ICF: Challenges and Suggested
Considerations
Olaf Kraus de Camargo
Appendices
1. Case Examples and Exercises
2. Team Development: Phases, Dysfunctional Groups
3. F-Words Goal Sheet
4. ICF Discharge/Referral Form
5. ICF Framework (blank)
6. ICF Code Sets (Children and Youth) to be available to download online
7. Useful Links and Additional Resources