Screen-based activities and physical complaints among adolescents from the Nordic countries.

Background: A positive association between time spent on sedentary screen-based activities and physical complaints has been reported, but the cumulative association between different types of screen-based activities and physical complaints has not been examined thoroughly.

Methods: The cross-sectional association between screen-based activity and physical complaints (backache and headache) among students was examined in a sample of 31022 adolescents from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Greenland, as part of the Health behaviour in school-aged children 2005/06 (HBSC) study. Daily hours spent on screen-based activities and levels of physical complaints were assessed using self-reports.

Utility of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health's participation dimension in assigning ICF codes to items from extant rating instruments.

Objectives: Firstly to investigate the utility of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health's (ICF's) participation dimension when items from extant questionnaires focusing on participation were assigned to ICF codes on an item-by-item basis; and, secondly, to conduct a preliminary investigation of the theoretical assumption expressed in ICF that ICF's environment component interacts with body function and participation components.

Design: A person-based, descriptive study.

Subjects: The sample comprised students with disabilities (n = 448), their parents/relatives (n = 414), their teachers/managers (n = 418) and special education consultants (n = 110).