2. Body structure (code S).
3. Activities and participation (code D).
4. Environmental factors (code E) and personal factors.
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), which was revised and coordinated by the World Health Organization for nine years, finally approved the internationally accepted version on May 22nd, 20001.
ICF classification system provides a unified framework to classify the functional state and disability degree of health elements.
Functional status and degree of disability can be regarded as a complex interaction among individual health status, environmental background factors and individual factors. A person's healthy image is composed of many factors and orientations in the "life world he lives in".
ICF claims that these factors and orientations constitute an interactive dynamic process, which is nonlinear or static. In addition, ICF allows to judge the degree of obstacles through evaluation, but it is not a measuring tool.
No matter how healthy a person is, ICF classification system can be applied. ICF uses neutral words to describe medical etiology, focusing on the functional state of individuals, rather than symptoms or diseases. In addition, ICF is a set of health classification tools that consider cross-cultural, age and gender variables, making ICF classification system suitable for different population backgrounds.
ICF classification system is a supplement to the 10th edition of the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD- 10), because ICD only contains information on disease diagnosis and health status, and there is no description of functional status. ICD and International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health are the core classification systems of the World Health Organization's International Classification System (WHO -FIC).
Correlation between ICF and clinical science
Understanding how diseases affect the functioning of a person's functional state can plan better services, treatment and rehabilitation for those with long-term disability or chronic diseases (Hemmingson &; Jonson, 2005). At present, ICF has created a comprehensive understanding of the overall health status of individuals, replacing the practice of simply paying attention to individual health status.
The influence of ICF includes: emphasizing individual's independent power, improving individual's ability through intervention, helping them to participate in society more widely, and considering the possible obstacles caused by environmental and personal factors (Bornman, 2004).
Qualifier): ICF limit "may be the best explanation for transforming the clinical state in standard environment into the functional state of daily life" (Reed et al., 2005).
Limit values enable all team members to quantify the extent of the problem. If there is no qualified value, the ICF code item loses its original meaning.