Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLe 8.1
An Overview of ICF
Part 1: Functioning and Disability
Part 2: Contextual Factors
Components
Body functions
and structure
Activities and
participation
Environmental
factors
Personal factors
Domains
Body functions
Body structures
Life areas
(tasks, actions)
External
influences on
functioning
and disability
Internal
influences on
functioning and
disability
Constructs
Change in body
functions
(physiological)
Change in body
structures
(anatomical)
Capacity
Executing
tasks in a
standard
environment
Performance
Executing
tasks in the
current
environment
Facilitation of
hindering
impact of
features of the
physical,
social and
attitudinal
world
Impact of
attributes of the
person
Positive
Aspect
Functional and
structural
integrity
Activities and
participation
Facilitators
Not applicable
Functioning
Negative
Aspect
Impairment
Activity
limitation
Participation
restriction
Barriers/
hindrances
Not applicable
Disability
Source
: World Health Organization (WHO).
ICF: International Classification of Functioning,
Disability, and Health,
Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, 2001
.
and disability are not considered, so preventing the cultural and professional develop-
ment of (clinical) psychologist figures even in the field of the ATA process. Universally,
in a center for technical aid the clinical psychologist does not belong to the center's mul-
tidisciplinary team of professionals, often being present just as an external consultant.
Engineers, physiotherapists, and specialists in rehabilitation (e.g., speech language pathol-
ogists, audiologists, optometrists, special educators, and occupational therapists) usually
make up the internal team of a center for technical aid and outline the current biosocial
outlook on disability.
The ICF imputes the lack of codes for the personal factors to “the large social and cul-
tural variance associated with them” (WHO 2001, p. 9). However, the real novelty of the
bio-psycho-social model compared with the previous medical and social ones is precisely
the presence of the “psycho” prefix between “bio” and “social.” The failure in coding such
an important component of the contextual factors 10 years after the ICF edition, given also
the distinctive value for the whole classification, creates a disturbing parallel between the
International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps (ICIDH) of 1980
(WHO 1980) and the ICF because ICIDH aimed to describe and represent disability in
terms of the social model but ended up revealing a substantial consistency with the medi-
cal model: So the ICF seems to ignore the call to complexity, implied in the bio-psycho-
social model, to be only, literally, an integration between the medical and social models
