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This study explored severe malaria-related disability in children from the perspectives of their caregivers. The interpretive description qualitative approach was employed. The participants were selected using the purposive sampling technique considering the child's history of severe malaria, age (0–10 years), and location (urban/rural). Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with sixteen caregivers. Reflexive thematic data analysis was utilized. Through prolonged engagement, reflective journaling, an audit trail, and co-authors' review, trustworthiness was enhanced. The study generated five themes from the interviews: mitigators of disability, contributors of disability, impact on body function, impact on activities and participation, and uncertainties about future well-being. The findings revealed previously unstudied social components of disability and environmental factors. Furthermore, the research uncovered health-related quality of life aspects that are out of the scope of the current comprehensive disability framework. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of severe malaria-related disability in children from the biopsychosocial perspective. The findings could help policymakers, researchers, and clinicians who want to design rehabilitation interventions for the affected children or examine the components of disability on a large scale using quantitative methods. Various contextual factors interacted with severe malaria and influenced functioning either as facilitators or barriers, implying disability related to malaria can be prevented or created. The long-term impacts of severe malaria are not limited to functioning and disability but also affect the health-related quality of life of children who survive severe malaria. Rehabilitation professionals should consider applying comprehensive functioning and disability frameworks such as the ICF when designing (or applying) screening tools, planning interventions, and evaluating the outcomes of intervention for children with severe malaria-related disability. Rehabilitation interventions for children with severe malaria-related disability should consider patient– or caregiver–reported outcomes (components of disability). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disability is a consequence of severe malaria for a significant proportion of African children. This scoping review aims to describe the impact of severe malaria on African children according to current literature using an international biopsychical classification and framework of disability and functioning. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, and CINHAL databases were searched for original research conducted on African children aged 0–18 using terms related to severe malaria and components of disability. Independent and dependent variables were extracted and classified using the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health-Children and Youth version (ICF-CY) using standardized coding methods. Seventy-two percent of the measured variables in the 34 included studies were coded as "body functions," (i.e., impairments), such as mental, neuromusculoskeletal, movement, and sensory functions, and 23.3% of variables were coded as "activities and participation" (i.e., activity limitations/participation restrictions), such as difficulties with general tasks and demands, communication, mobility, interpersonal interactions, and relationships. "Environment" variables such as family support, health access, education, or societal attitudes were not found in the included studies. Existing peer-reviewed quantitative research of severe malaria-related disability is focused on neurological sequelae, with less research about activity limitations and participation restrictions. Promoting the use of a comprehensive biopsychosocial disability framework and classification system for severe malaria will provide a framework that other researchers, policymakers, and rehabilitation professionals can consider when looking at the best ways to support outcomes for children with severe malaria. Using a framework of the ICF-CY, we have highlighted the need for better research into child functioning outcomes in severe malaria research, especially within the domain of child participation. Policymakers should be encouraged to support better holistic evaluation, support, and rehabilitation of children who have had severe malaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The content of and methods for collecting health information often vary across settings and challenge the comparability of health information across time, individuals or populations. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) contains an exhaustive set of categories of information which constitutes a unified and consistent language of human functioning suitable as a reference for comparing health information. Methods and results In two earlier papers, we have proposed rules for linking existing health information to the ICF. Further refinements to these existing ICF Linking Rules are presented in this paper to enhance the transparency of the linking process. The refinements involve preparing information for linking, perspectives from which information is collected and the categorization of response options. Issues regarding the linking of information not covered or unspecified within the ICF are also revisited in this paper. Conclusion: The ICF Linking Rules are valuable for enhancing comparability of health information to ensure that information is available in a consistent manner to serve as a foundation for evidence-based decision-making across all levels of health systems. The refinements presented in this paper enhance transparency in, and ultimately reliability of the process of, linking health information to the ICF. Implications for Rehabilitation: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) constitutes a unified and consistent language of human functioning suitable as a reference for comparing health information. Comparability of information is essential to ensure that the widest range of information is available in a consistent manner for any decision-maker at all levels of the health system. The refined ICF Linking Rules presented in this article outline the method to establish comparability of health information based on the ICF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. In 1976, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated worldwide disability prevalence at 10%%; recent evidence suggests the prevalence is even higher. Given the extent of disability around the world, it is essential for researchers and policy makers to have a uniform language for describing and discussing disability. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is WHO's attempt to provide that standard language. Linking rules were published in 2002 and 2005 suggesting a method for standardising the process of connecting outcome measures to the ICF classification. The objective of this study is to study the extent to which the linking rules have been used by researchers to link health and health-related information to the ICF and collect the feedback about the current practices, applications and areas to improve the linking method. Method. Using a systematic review of health-based literature between 2001 and February 2008, we (1) determined research areas where the linking method is applied, (2) examined the characteristics of studies that linked information to the ICF and (3) described current practices and issues related to the process of linking health and health-related information to the ICF both quantitatively and qualitatively. Results. The systematic review yielded 109 articles from 58 journals that linked health information to the ICF and 58 of the articles employed published linking rules. The majority of articles were descriptive in nature, used linking for connecting content of health instruments to the ICF and linked English health content. Quality controls such as reliability checks, multiple raters and iterative linking processes were found frequently among users of the linking rules. Qualitative analysis created themes about: preparing units of information, who links to the ICF, reliability, matching or translating concepts from text to ICF categories, information unable or difficult to capture, quantitative reporting standards and overall linking process. Discussion. This review also shows that the linking process is a useful way to apply the ICF classification in research. With over 100 articles published in 58 peer-reviewed journals across 50 focus areas, linking health and health-related information to the ICF has been shown to be a useful tool for describing, comparing and contrasting information from outcome measures used to collect quantitative data, qualitative research results and clinical patient reports across diagnoses, settings, languages and countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Content comparison of health-related quality of life ((HRQOL)) measures is currently important because of the varying use of concepts and operationalisations. Our objective was to use the International Classification of Functioning Children and Youth version ((ICF-CY)) as a standard by which to compare the content of all cerebral palsy ((CP)) disease-specific HRQOL measures. Methods. MEDLINE and PsycINFO databases were searched up to September 2008. The content of HRQOL measures was linked to the ICF-CY by two trained assessors. Agreement was calculated using kappa ((κκ)) statistic. Results. Four disease-specific HRQOL measures were identified. Three generic measures were selected as a content comparison group. A total of 576 concepts contained in the measures were identified. Eighty-nine percent (( n == 510)) were linked to 127 different ICF-CY categories. Overall κκ agreement was 0.76 ((95%% CI: 0.75--0.77)). Forty percent of concepts were linked to the activity and participation component. The measures varied in the number of concepts and the distribution of concepts by ICF-CY components. Conclusions. The ICF-CY provided an international accepted, structured framework for the content comparison of CP-specific and generic HRQOL measures. The results will provide clinicians and researchers with additional information, useful when selecting HRQOL measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]