International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health: Children and Youth Version

Description

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) is a derived version of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, WHO, 2001) designed to record characteristics of the developing child and the influence of environments surrounding the child . This derived version of the ICF can be used by providers, consumers and all those concerned with the health, education, and well being of children and youth. It provides a common and universal language for clinical, public health, and research applications to facilitate the documentation and measurement of health and disability in child and youth populations.

As a version for children and youth, the classification builds on the ICF conceptual framework and provides a common language and terminology for recording problems involving functions and structures of the body, activity limitations and participation restrictions manifested in infancy, childhood and adolescence and relevant environmental factors. The ICF-CY belongs to the "family" of international classifications developed by the World Health Organization for application to various aspects of health. The ICF-CY can assist clinicians, educators, researchers, administrators, policy makers and parents to document the characteristics of children and youth of importance for promoting their growth, health and development.