The purpose of this study was to investigate the overview of the use of the ICF in Korea. Methods: An integrative literature review from its publication in 2001 to May, 2015 was conducted; studies published from 2001 to May, 2015 were searched using RISS, KISS, DBpia, KoreaMed, PubMed, and ISI databases. For inclusion in the review, a study had to be published as a scientific article, must have participation of Korean researchers and developed in Korea, and should provide use of ICF. Results: A total of 108 publications were identified, and 89 studies met the inclusion criteria. Most eligible studies were related to clinical fields (n= 41) and areas with the disabled (n= 32). Interestingly, several studies showed how to use and/or adapt ICF in clinical practice e.g. reviews and case studies, whereas in the area of the disabled, descriptive studies reported ICF concepts comparing with the current disability policies and laws in Korea. The usage of ICF was found to be at various levels: introducing the ICF concept and model, collecting data using the ICF checklist, coresets, as well as ICF codes itself and presenting results in the ICF framework, developing measurement tools based on ICF concepts. Conclusion: Since introduction of the ICF in 2001, the use of the ICF in Korea has increased in different professionals as well as in levels of its applications.

The aim of the study was to investigate items of commonly used questionnaires that measure functioning status of persons with stroke and map to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Methods: Eighty-six patients with stroke were recruited from 12 medical institutes for the study. Each item of the Modified Bathel Index (MBI), Stroke Impact Scale (SIS), Mini Mental Status Evaluation (MMSE) and SF-36 were examined and compared its concept with the ICF. Concept linking was performed by 10 health professionals independently. A field test was performed to assess its correlation between those of scales and their linked ICF category sets. Results: It was found that 11 items in MBI was linked to 14 ICF categories, whereas 27 items of MMSE had 10 categories of ICF linked. 60 items of SIS were to be linked with 35 ICF categories. Agreement between professionals in linking was found to be high: 97.5% for MBI items, 78.0%, 78.0%, and 74.8% for MMSE, SIS, and SF-36 respectively. Strong relationship was observed between measurement scales and linked ICF code sets (r=-0.76 for SIS, r=-0.78 for MBI, r=-0.47 for MMSE) whereas there was no relationship was found between SF-36 and its ICF code set (r=-0.06) from the field test. Conclusion: It was found that items of SIS, MMSE and MBI may be linked to ICF categories. Those of linking concept between clinical tools and the ICF could be helpful for clinical data standardization.

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Purpose:The purpose was to link items of questionnaires that measure functioning and disability of persons with Low Back Pain (LBP) into the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Methods: The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Roland and Morris Disability Questionnaire (RM), Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ), and Short Form-36 health survey (SF-36) were evaluated to map items of those questionnaires into the ICF categories. The linking rule was employed and linking was performed independently by 10 health professionals. One-hundred and two patients with LBP were recruited from 19 medical institutes to this study for a field test to examine relations between the scale and its linked ICF category set. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze their relationships. Results: Walking was only found to be one-to-one linking between the scale and the ICF. Sixty questions in FABQ were to be linked to 9 of ICF categories. Ten and 14 ICF categories were able to be linked to RM and ODI respectively. It was found that majority of items from ODI and RM scale had similar concept and linked to the same ICF category. SF-36 had only 15 categories of the ICF linked. Strong relationship was observed between measurement scales and linked ICF code sets (r= 0.79, r= 0.65, r= 0.47, and r= -0.31 for ODI, RM, FABQ and SF-36 respectively). Conclusion: It was found that commonly used clinical tools for LBP may be linked to ICF. The study results may suggest that clinical data can be standardized to communicate between related professionals.

This study was to conduct a Korean cultural adaptation of the WHO disability assessment schedule (WHODAS) 2.0: 36-item version. Methods: An internationally standardized process of translation and cultural adaptation of an instrument was used to develop a Korean version of WHODAS 2.0: 36-item version. Linking each item into the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) was also conducted in order to ensure the concepts in the translated instrument were compatible with ICF. All translated versions of the instrument, linking results and feedback from participants were used for the final adaptation of the Korean version of the instrument. The Korean version of the instrument was assessed twice on different occasions to examine Inter-and intra-rater reliability, and the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated. Results: Twelve participants were involved in the translation and linking process. Ninety-five volunteers were invited to participate to examine the reliability of the instrument. Fifty participants completed the self-rated version of the instrument and 45 finished the interviewer version. The Korean WHODAS 2.0: 36-item version was found to have excellent reliability: self-rated version and interviewer version reliability coefficients were ICC= 0.92 and ICC= 0.94, respectively. Thirty-four items of the translated instrument were to be linked to ICF categories. Some adaptation was made; details and a familiar example were added to help respondents answer the questions. Conclusion: The study results show that the adaptation of the 36-item version of WHODAS 2.0 to Korean was successful and the instrument is ready for use in testing its psychometric properties.