Investigation of falls is essential to sound clinical decision making and health promotion in community-dwelling people with stroke. Pursuing knowledge of the risk factors to predict falls highlights our efforts in addressing the high burden associated with falls. Findings from such investigations could be used in planning falls assessment.1,2 It then becomes imperative to select instruments that reflect the variables that need to be examined. Within this context, Beninato and colleagues3 innovatively used the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)4 as a reference framework. Specifically, they examined the usability of the ICF as a criterion for content validity of measures that were used to evaluate their prediction of falls in individuals with stroke. They were successful in their application and illustrated that the ICF indeed can be useful for content validity assessment and outcomes measurement in stroke.
Beninato and colleagues’ study illustrated the value of the ICF in clinical decision making toward patient care. Their study contributes to the growing body of evidence on the practicality of the ICF and the still-existing need to take the ICF beyond just being a conceptual framework. Their use of the ICF as a reference in the selection of instruments should be commended. It was evident that there was recognition to cover the different domains that are explicitly covered by the ICF components of “body functions and structures,” “activities and participation,” “environmental factors,” and “personal factors” by having assessment tools that represent these ICF components.
Since its approval 8 years ago, the ICF ushered in a new era in research, academics, and clinics in terms of outcomes measurement. The ICF provided constructs and domains and a classification system that are essential to health researchers and heath care providers alike. The ICF is a tool that can be …
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