The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in vocational rehabilitation and disability assessment in Slovenia: state of law and users' perspective

Abstract

Objective. This study illustrates the use of the ICF in vocational rehabilitation and disability assessment in Slovenia.

Method. A review of the Slovenian law about vocational rehabilitation was performed. A survey was developed and group and individual interviews were conducted with professionals involved in vocational rehabilitation who use the ICF.

Results. The vast majority of the respondents believe that ICF helps to create a common language for multidisciplinary communication. The main advantages of the ICF identified by the respondents are that it provides a holistic view of the person, assesses complexities of functioning, provides a unified language and offers a quick and easy insight into functioning. The disadvantages of ICF are complicated terminology and subjectivity of the assessor. A difficulty encountered by the users is that by law, only body functions of the ICF are assessed. Additional qualitative analysis of the users' understanding of ICF and its purpose revealed heterogeneity. Significant differences between public and private organisations were found.

Conclusion. ICF is a promising tool for use in vocational rehabilitation and disability assessment in Slovenia. A major challenge is the lack of interface between ICF and policies on vocational rehabilitation in Slovenia.

Keywords:

• ICF
• vocational rehabilitation
• disability assessment
• classification

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to all the professionals who agreed to participate in the survey all across Slovenia, Jurij Švajger and Janez Vidmar, chiefs of the two units of the Centre for Vocational Rehabilitation at the University Institute for Rehabilitation in Ljubljana and Maribor, respectively for the substantial help in organising the interviews, and to Andrejka Fatur-Videtič, chief of the Centre for Development of Vocational Rehabilitation, University Institute for Rehabilitation of the Republic of Slovenia for her valuable advice and comments during the development of the survey.