Background: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) offers an internationally accepted standard for describing and assessing functioning and disability in any health condition. A specific list of ICF categories, an ICF Core Set (CS), has been developed for bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to determine commonalities in the ICF-CSs for these three disorders, and to identify relevant categories for the development of tentative ICF-CSs for severe mental disorders in general.
Methods: The ICF categories of all three mental health conditions were examined and compared.
Results: Comparison of the Comprehensive ICF-CSs for the three mental health conditions revealed a set of 34 common categories (i.e., 10 from the Body functions component, 14 from the Activities and participation component, and 10 Environmental factors ). These categories formed the proposed Comprehensive ICF-CS for severe mental disorders. A total of 11 categories were common to the Brief ICF-CSs of the three mental health conditions, and these formed the Brief ICF-CS for severe mental disorders (i.e., 3 from the Body functions component, 6 from the Activities and participation component, and 2 Environmental factors ). All the categories included refer to key aspects of functioning for severe mental disorders.
Conclusions: The proposed ICF-CSs for severe mental disorders may be applicable across a number of psychotic and affective disorders and they should prove useful for mental health services whose care remit covers a range of conditions.