Validation of the Comprehensive ICF Core Set for young Children with Cerebral Palsy: An Occupational Therapy Perspective from Iran

Evidence has shown that because of the multiplicity and diversity of the symptoms of cerebral palsy, integration between different specialists in evaluating the function of this population does not exist. Comprehensive ICF Core Set of cerebral palsy including a set of functions of these children and the aim of this study was to determine the validity of this version based on Iranian Occupational Therapists’ perspectives.

Materials & Methods

This study was a qualitative study using expert panels and Delphi survey. Experts were the academic staff of the universities that were selected through convenience sampling. Content validity was done by them. Then a Delphi survey was used for generating consensus on the final version. Participants were 50 clinical Occupational Therapists who were invited via email from across the country. An agreement of 75% was considered as the cut-off for inclusion of each code-category.

Results

After expert panels and rounds of Delphi, 60% of the code–categories of comprehensive version of ICF Core Set of cerebral palsy approved by Occupational Therapists. In the final version, 82 code-categories were listed that included 21 code-categories for Body Functions, 40 for Activity/Participation, and 21 for Environmental Factors. This indicates that Occupational Therapists pay more attention to the activity/ participation component.

Conclusion

The validity of the Iranian ICF Core Set for children with CP aged 0–6 years was supported by Iranian Occupational Therapists. It could be the basis for evaluation of this population in Occupational Therapy.