Laying the foundation for an ICF core set for community dwelling older adults in primary care: an expert survey.

Abstract

Aholistic biopsychosocial model focused on functioning in individual contexts (environment, task) is better suited to meet the needs of older patients than disease only based models. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is the official standard for describing functional health. As the ICF is too detailed to be used in practice, brief core sets have been developed. This study aimed to identify relevant aspects of functioning for older primary care patients from the perspective of healthcare professionals in Germany. An internet-based cross-sectional expert survey was conducted in preparation for the development of an ICF core set for community-dwelling patients aged 75years and older. Open-ended questions to identify the most important aspects of functioning and disability in old age were used. Responses were analyzed based on acontent analysis approach to identify relevant concepts in the care of the target population. These concepts were then linked to ICF categories according to established linking rules. A total of 63 experts participated in this survey. Across all responses, 2240 meaningful concepts were identified. Atotal of 75ICF categories (4first level categories, 67second level categories, 4code combinations) were identified by at least 5% of respondents and will thus be considered as candidate categories for the final ICF core set. Most of concepts were associated with the environmental factors component. The most frequently identified categories were immediate family and family relationships. This survey provides alist of relevant ICF categories from the experts' perspective and together with other preparatory studies will be used for developing an ICF core set for community-dwelling older adults in primary care.