The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in vocational rehabilitation and disability assessment in Slovenia: state of law and users' perspective.
OBJECTIVE
This study illustrates the use of the ICF in vocational rehabilitation and disability assessment in Slovenia.


METHODS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Multidisciplinary Research Network on Health and Disability in Europe (MURINET), University Rehabilitation Institute, Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia. nobel5@yandex.ru
Pavel
P
Ptyushkin
Gaj
G
Vidmar
Helena
H
Burger
Crt
C
Marinček
Reuben
R
Escorpizo
D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational / Q000592:standards*; D017524:Slovenia; D009626:Terminology as Topic