How to use the ICF as a reference system for comparative evaluation and standardised reporting of rehabilitation interventions.

The objective of this paper is to present recommendations that Cochrane Rehabilitation could adopt for using the ICF in rehabilitation studies by: 1) defining the functioning categories to be included in a rehabilitation study, 2) specifying selected functioning categories and selecting suitable data collection instruments, 3) examining aspects of functioning that have been documented in a study, 4) reporting functioning data collected with various data collection instruments, and 5) communicating results in an accessible, meaningful and easily understandable way. The authors provide examples of concrete studies that underscore these recommendations, whereby also emphasizing the need for future research on the implementation of specific recommendations, e.g. in meta-analysis in systematic literature reviews. Furthermore, the paper outlines how the ICF can complement or be integrated in established Cochrane and rehabilitation research structures and methods, e.g. use of standard mean difference to compare cross-study data collected using different measures, in developing core outcome sets (COS) for rehabilitation, and the use of the PICO model. PMID: 30990004 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine - Category: Rehabilitation Authors: Tags: Eur J Phys Rehabil Med Source Type: research