Chapter 17 - Features of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 and its applications for traumatic brain injury assessment

Abstract

The diagnosis and disability assessment of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be extremely challenging to clinicians. Most of the more than 700 instruments that have been used in assessing TBI patients focus on patient activity and participation, with only a minority considering environmental factors. The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) is an assessment tool developed under the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health framework that evaluates individuals’ functionality in six domains (cognition, mobility, self-care, getting along with people, life activities, and participation in society). It has been translated into more than 40 languages and dialects, and its reliability and validity are well established. WHODAS 2.0 constitutes not only a language shared among rehabilitation clinicians and a monitoring tool for rehabilitation progress; it can potentially be used to predict the outcomes of TBI.