Mapping Items of Functioning Questionnaires into the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Low Back Pain

Abstract

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.

The Effects of Spinal Decompression Therapy on Pain and Disability in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain

“…The ODI scores are divided into 0-20% (minimal disability), 21-40% (moderate disability), 40-60% (severe disability), and 60% or above (severely disabled life). 10 It is usable in a wide variety of applications as a condition-specific outcome measure of spine-related disability.…”

Linking of Items in Two Function-related Questionnaires to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Shoulder Pain

“…In clinical measurement tools, it was often observed that one concept was present in several items with different ranges of intensity or frequency, and each of those items could be linked to one ICF code. 15,16 This study showed that the level of performing certain activities was included in sequential items in both DASH and SF-36, such as carrying light object (item 10), carrying heavy object (item 11) in DASH, and climbing from one flight (item 6) to several flights of stairs (item 7) in SF-36. The concept related to executing the activity is the same in those items and, therefore, they could be linked to one ICF category (d430 lifting and carrying objects, d4551 climbing, respectively) whereas the intensity or extent of activities was not directly linked to ICF codes, as intensity of some activities is not included within ICF.…”

“…This could indicate differences between specific and generic tools. 15,16 Dressing (item 12) was included in SF-36, whereas putting on a pullover sweater (item 15) was in DASH, and those items were linked to dressing (d540) and putting on clothes (d5400), respectively. Other items, such as bathing (item 12) in SF-36 vs. washing one's back (item 14) and wash or dry hair (item 13) in DASH were linked to washing (d510), washing body parts (d5100), and drying oneself (d5102), respectively.…”

“…They fall within the same concept, but they could be linked to different ICF codes due to different purposes or contents of the measurements. 15,16 In DASH, some of the items include more than two concepts within a single item. For example, an item about lifting an object above the head (item 6) was suggested to include the concepts of lifting, carrying, and reaching, so, both lifting and carrying objects (d430) and reaching (d4452) in ICF were linked to those DASH items.…”

Korean Cultural Adaptation of WHODAS 2.0 (36-Item Version): Reliability and Linking to ICF

“…7 Functioning measurement tools have been linked to ICF to promote communications among relevant professionals in Korea. 5,8 WHODAS II was published in 2004 based on the WHO psychiatric disability assessment schedule which was designated to assess the extent of disability associated with a psychiatric condition.…”