Assessing Children With Disabilities Using WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Child and Youth Version Activities and Participation D Codes

AIM: Evaluation of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health child and youth version (ICF-CY) activities and participation d code functions in clinical practice with children across diagnoses, disabilities, ages, and genders.

METHODS: A set of 57 codes were selected and worded to describe children's support needs in everyday life. Parents of children aged 1 to 15 years participated in interviews to discuss and rate their child's disability.

RESULTS: Of 367 invited parents, 332 (90.5%) participated. The mean age of their children with disability was 9.4 years. The mean code scores were 50.67, the corrected code-total correlations were .76, intercode correlations had the mean of 0.61, and Cronbach's α was .98. As a result of Rasch analysis, graphical data for disability measures paralleled clinical expectations across the total population of 332 children.

CONCLUSION: The World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health child and youth version d code data can provide a coherent measure of severity of disability in children across various diagnoses, ages, and genders.