The utility of the International Classification of Functioning construct as a statistical tool - operationalizing mental health as an indicator of adolescent participation.

Background: The ICF provides a common scientific language for the study of health and functioning. Adolescent mental health, operationalized as engagement in life situations, is one aspect of functioning. Engagement as mental health has a bi-directional relation with environmental factors.

How pain management for children with cerebral palsy in South African schools complies with up-to-date knowledge.

Background: Pain in children with cerebral palsy (CP) has its sources in musculoskeletal problems that can influence learning in a school setting. Best pain management is essential for these children, but school staff may not keep up to date with the latest developments and interventions. Therefore, staff's perceptions of beneficial strategies may not comply with contemporary scientific knowledge about effective evidence-based interventions.

Success Factors Enabling Employment for Adults on the Autism Spectrum from Employers' Perspective.

Employment outcomes for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are poor and there is limited understanding on how best to support individuals with ASD in the workplace. Stakeholders involved in the employment of adults with ASD, including employers and employment service providers have unique insights into the factors influencing employment for this population. Organisational and individual factors facilitating successful employment for adults with ASD across Australia and Sweden were explored, including the supports and strategies underpinning employment success from an employers' perspective.

Linking youths' mental, psychosocial, and emotional functioning to ICF-CY: lessons learned.

Purpose: Linking ready-made questionnaires to codes within the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, Children and Youth Version with the intention of using the information statistically for studying mental health problems can pose several challenges. Many of the constructs measured are latent, and therefore, difficult to describe in single codes. The aim of this study was to describe and discuss challenges encountered in this coding process.

Pain management for children with cerebral palsy in school settings in two cultures: action and reaction approaches.

Background: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) face particular challenges, e.g. daily pain that threaten their participation in school activities.

Methods for conceptualising 'visual ability' as a measurable construct in children with cerebral palsy.

Background: Vision influences functioning and disability of children with cerebral palsy, so there is a growing need for psychometrically robust tools to advance assessment of children's vision abilities in clinical practice and research. Vision is a complex construct, and in the absence of clarity about this construct it is challenging to know whether valid, reliable measures exist. This study reports a method for conceptualising 'visual ability' as a measurable construct.

Professionals' Perceptions about the Need for Pain Management Interventions for Children with Cerebral Palsy in South African School Settings.

Pain is common in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and may have negative consequences for children's success in their studies. Research has shown that pain in childhood negatively influences individuals' participation and quality of life in later years. This study investigated how professionals in South African school settings respond to children's need for pain management in an attempt to enable the children to be active participants in school activities, despite their pain.

The content of goals in individual educational programs for students with complex communication needs.

The aim of the study was to explore the contents of communication-related goals in individualized education programs (IEPs) for students with complex communication needs. Goals in 43 IEPs were linked to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, Children and Youth version (ICF-CY). The results show that the communication-related IEP goals contain information on multiple domains of functioning in the ICF-CY.

Eina! Ouch! Eish! Professionals' Perceptions of How Children with Cerebral Palsy Communicate About Pain in South African School Settings: Implications for the use of AAC.

Most children with severe cerebral palsy experience daily pain that affects their school performance. School professionals need to assess pain in these children, who may also have communication difficulties, in order to pay attention to the pain and support the children's continued participation in school. In this study, South African school professionals' perceptions of how they observed pain in children with cerebral palsy, how they questioned them about it and how the children communicated their pain back to them were investigated.

Applying the ICF to identify requirements for students with Asperger syndrome in higher education.

Unlabelled: Higher education requires more than academic skills and everyday student-life can be stressful. Students with Asperger syndrome (AS) may need support to manage their education due to difficulties in social functioning.

Objective: As preparation for the development of a structured tool to guide student and coordinator dialogues at Swedish universities, this study aimed to identify ICF categories that reflect requirements in everyday student-life for students with AS.

Students with disabilities in higher education - perceptions of support needs and received support: a pilot study.

Students with disabilities in higher education frequently need support to succeed in their studies. Perceived problems in managing studies and everyday life may be the same for students with different disabilities, although the reasons for support may vary between them. In this pilot study, a questionnaire aimed to survey everyday functioning in students with disabilities was tested.

Differentiating activity and participation of children and youth with disability in Sweden: a third qualifier in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health for Children and Youth?

Objective: This article discusses the use of a third qualifier, subjective experience of involvement, as a supplement to the qualifiers of capacity and performance, to anchor activity and participation as separate endpoints on a continuum of actions.

Design: Empirical data from correlational studies were used for secondary analyses. The analyses were focused on the conceptual roots of the participation construct as indicated by the focus of policy documents, the support for a third qualifier as indicated by correlational data, differences between self-ratings and ratings by others in measuring subjective experience of involvement, and the empirical support for a split between activity and participation in different domains of the activity and participation component.

Professionals' views of children's everyday life situations and the relation to participation.

Purpose: The aim was to determine professionals' views of everyday life situations (ELS) of importance for children and to explore how ELS correlate with the construct "Participation". This study was part of a larger work to develop a structured tool with code sets to identify child participation and support children with disabilities to describe what matters most for them in intervention planning.

Method: The study had a concurrent mixed methods design.

Using content analysis to link texts on assessment and intervention to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health - version for Children and Youth (ICF-CY).

Objective: To explore how content analysis can be used together with linking rules to link texts on assessment and intervention to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health - version for children and youth (ICF-CY).

Methods: Individual habilitation plans containing texts on assessment and intervention for children with disabilities and their families were linked to the ICF-CY using content ana-lysis. Texts were first divided into meaning units in order to extract meaningful concepts.

Identifying child functioning from an ICF-CY perspective: everyday life situations explored in measures of participation.

Purpose: This study was part of a larger work to develop an authentic measure consisting of code sets for self- or proxy-report of child participation. The aim was to identify common everyday life situations of children and youth based on measures of participation.

Method: The study was descriptive in nature and involved several stages: systematic search of literature to find articles presenting measures for children and youth with disabilities, identifying measures in selected articles, linking items in included measures to the ICF-CY, analysing content in measures presented as performance and participation and identifying aggregations of ICF-CY codes across these measures.

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health and the version for children and youth as a tool in child habilitation/early childhood intervention--feasibility and usefulness as a common language and frame of reference for practice.

Early childhood intervention and habilitation services for children with disabilities operate on an interdisciplinary basis. It requires a common language between professionals, and a shared framework for intervention goals and intervention implementation. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the version for children and youth (ICF-CY) may serve as this common framework and language.

Exploring changes over time in habilitation professionals' perceptions and applications of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, version for Children and Youth (ICF-CY).

Objective: This study explored how professionals in inter-disciplinary teams perceived the implementation of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, version for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) in Swedish habilitation services.

Design: Descriptive longitudinal mixed-methods design.

Methods: Following participation in a 2-day in-service training on the ICF-CY, 113 professionals from 14 interdisciplinary teams described their perceptions of the implementation of the ICF-CY at 3 consecutive time-points: during in-service training, after 1 year, and after 2.

Evaluation of in-service training in using the ICF and ICF version for children and youth.

Objective: To study the effects of in-service training on staff's self-reported knowledge, understanding use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and ICF Children and Youth version (ICF-CY).

Design: Quasi-experimental with a questionnaire prior to training and another one year after training.

Methods: Intervention was in-service training in using the ICF and ICF-CY.