<P> Functioning and disability are viewed as a complex interaction between the health condition of the individual and the contextual factors of the environment as well as personal factors . The picture produced by this combination of factors and dimensions is of "the person in his or her world". The classification treats these dimensions as interactive and dynamic rather than linear or static . It allows for an assessment of the degree of disability, although it is not a measurement instrument . It is applicable to all people, whatever their health condition . The language of the ICF is neutral as to etiology, placing the emphasis on function rather than condition or disease . It also is carefully designed to be relevant across cultures as well as age groups and genders, making it highly appropriate for heterogeneous populations . </P> <P> There are benefits of using the ICF for both the patient and the health professional . A major advantage for the patient is the integration of the physical, mental, and social aspects of his or her health condition . All aspects of a person's life (development, participation and environment) are incorporated into the ICF instead of solely focusing on his or her diagnosis . A diagnosis reveals little about one's functional abilities . Diagnoses are important for defining the cause and prognosis, but identifying the limitations of function is often the information used to plan and implement interventions . Once a rehabilitation team is aware of the daily activities a client is required to participate in, the problem solving sequence set up by the ICF can be utilized . An occupational therapist, for example, would observe a patient performing his or her daily activities and note the patient's functional abilities . This information would then be used to determine the extent to which the individual's abilities can be improved through therapy and to what extent the environment can be changed to facilitate the individual's performance . Intervention at one level (current abilities) has the potential to prevent or modify events at a succeeding level (participation). For example, teaching a deaf child manual signs will foster effective interaction and increase one's participation with his or her family . </P> <P> Rehabilitation therapists will be empowered with the ICF not only in their daily work with their patients, but also when working with other medical disciplines; hospitals and other health care administrations; health authorities and policy makers . All items are operationally defined with clear descriptions that can be applied to real life evaluations with clarity and ease . The language used in the ICF helps facilitate better communication between these groups of people . </P> <P> Knowing how a disease affects one's functioning enables better planning of services, treatment, and rehabilitation for persons with long - term disabilities or chronic conditions . The current ICF creates a more integrative understanding of health forming a comprehensive profile of an individual instead of focusing on one's disease, illness, or disability . The implications of using the ICF include an emphasis on the strengths of individuals, assisting individuals in participating more extensively in society by the use of interventions aimed at enhancing their abilities, and taking into consideration the environmental and personal factors that might hamper their participation . Qualifiers: The ICF qualifiers "may be best translated clinically as the levels of functioning seen in a standardized or clinic setting and in everyday environments". Qualifiers support standardization and the understanding of functioning in a multidisciplinary assessment . They enable all team members to quantify the extent of problems, even in areas of functioning where one is not a specialist . Without qualifiers codes have no inherent meaning . An impairment, limitation or restriction, is qualified from 0 (No problem; 0 - 4%), 1 (Mild problem: 5 - 24%), 2 (Moderate problem: 25 - 49%), 3 (Severe problem: 50 - 95%) to 4 (Complete problem: 96 - 100%). Environmental factors are quantified with a negative and positive scale denoting the extent to which the environment acts as a barrier or facilitator . For insurance purposes, the qualifiers can describe the effectiveness of treatment . One can interpret the decreasing of a qualifier score to be an increase in the functional ability of a patient . </P>

Who's international classification of functioning disability and health