Use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health in Speech-Language-Hearing Therapy: an integrative literature review

Abstract

Purpose: to carry out an integrative review of literature regarding the use of the ICF in Speech-Language-Hearing Therapy. Methods: a search was conducted on both national and international databases, for articles published between 2008 and 2018, considering the following descriptors in Portuguese, English and Spanish: “International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health”, “Speech-Language-Hearing”, and “Speech Therapy”. Duplicated articles, as well as those introducing new ICF-based protocols and studies whose theme didn’t refer exclusively to speech-language-hearing practices were excluded. Results: 36 articles were found, 9 of which met the inclusion criteria. The articles were categorized according to speech-language-hearing subareas (most belonging to the subarea of language), and to types of study (most being case studies). Conclusion: studies point out that the ICF can contribute to the development of unique therapy projects in a broader approach to health in the speech-language-hearing clinic. However, it has been perceived the need for more researches on the theme with applicability to the other fields of knowledge in speech-language-hearing sciences.

ICF and perception of functioning according to children/adolescents in follow-up with speech/language disorders

“…ICF provides a unified language to describe health conditions, and allows elaboration of instruments to characterize functioning through different points of view. Analysis of the effects of the speech-language follow-up has been carried out mainly under the perspective of SLPs and parents of children and adolescents with speech and language disorders (12,14,(18)(19)(20)(21) . Examples, where speech-language pathologists and parents evaluated these changes have taken place in Canada using the Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six (FOCUS) (12,15,18) .…”

“…Because the ICF contains relevant aspects to SLPs who work with speech and language disorders, it is important to study their use in the therapeutic process. Researches have addressed parents' and professionals' perception of speech disorders (12,14,(18)(19)(20)(21) , but few studies have investigated children's and adolescents' perception of their own difficulties. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize changes in functioning aspects as perceived by children and adolescents with speech and language disorders, under speech-language follow-up, using the ICF.…”

Identification of Common Problems in Functioning and Disability among Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis

“…The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) had established in 2001, by the World Health Organization (WHO), a tool that aimed at providing a unified language to describe functioning and disability status among the individuals, defining the current relationships between social conditions and health (Antunes et al, 2019;World Health Organization [WHO], 2001). There are many ICF core sets, that have been developed for many conditions as diabetes, obesity, and osteoarthritis; however, there are no ICF core sets that had been developed to classify functioning and disability for chronic renal failure patients on hemodialysis.…”