Revision of Italian disability statistics according to the ICF conceptual and semantic framework

Abstract

The new approach suggested by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides an opportunity to address the policies and actions in favour of people with a disability. From a statistics point of view, the ICF represents also a new tool to improve the harmonisation and the comparison between international data across populations and sectors.

The Disability Information System (SID) Project started in 2000 following a convention between the current Ministry of Social Solidarity and Istat in implementation of article 41-bis of Law 162/98. The system provides statistical information on disability by integrating and coordinating data sources available on this matter in Italy and establishing new sources that are suitable for making up for the current information gaps.

This System has made some steps forward to promote greater integration of the sources, but further efforts must be made in terms of the quality of the data gathered and on the reorganisation and integration of currently available informative flows.

The purpose of this article is to analyse the work done in the last decade by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, at national and international level, to adapt the information produced to the developing information needs.

Keywords:

• Information system
• disability
• ICF

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

1. From the OECD battery it is possible to identify four types of disability: personal confinement (constraint to bed, on a chair or at home), disability in functional activities (difficulties in dressing up, washing up, taking a bath, eating), disability in the movements (difficulties in walking, in going up the stairs, in squatting, in lying down, in sitting down) and sensorial disabilities (difficulties in hearing, seeing and speaking).

2. (1) How is your health in general? Is it … very good/good/fair/bad/very bad; (2) Do you have any longstanding illness or longstanding health problem? [By longstanding I mean illnesses or health problems which have lasted, or are expected to last, for 6 months or more]… Yes/No; (3) For at least the past 6 months, to what extent have you been limited because of a health problem in activities people usually do? Would you say you have been … severely limited/limited but not severely or /not limited at all.

3. The EHSS consists of three parts: (1) an European Core Health Interview Survey (ECHIS); (2) a complementary set of special surveys (ESHIS); (3) a database of certified standards and recommended reference instruments.

4. Cognitive test of 30 people, with and without disabilities. The results of the cognitive test as well as the final version of the EDSIM module are available from http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/dsis/health/library?l=/reports/disability/edsim&vm= detailed&sb=Title

5. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Slovak Republic and Spain.

6. For more information: www.cdc.gov/nchs/citygroup.htm

7. For more information: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/disability/Seminar%202001.html