Towards a common disability assessment framework: theoretical and methodological issues for providing public services and benefits using ICF

Purpose. To report on the preliminary results of an Italian project on the implementation of an ICF-based protocol for providing public services and benefits for persons with disabilities. Methods. The UN Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities (UNC) was mapped to the ICF, and core elements were implemented in an ICF-based evaluation protocol. A person-environment interaction classification (PEIC) tree was also developed for defining evaluation outputs. Results. The PEIC and the ICF-based protocol are the guideline and the data interpretation source, respectively, for providing public services and benefits. They enable to assign persons to different services, from surveillance and monitoring to facilitator provision or sustain over time, to barrier removal or to the reorganisation of environmental factors provision. A detailed description of the target intervention is made available through the implementation of a protocol, which points out the effect of personal support and other environmental factors. Conclusions. The detailed description of functioning and disability provided by our methodology can help policy makers and administrators in decision making, on the basis of a description of real needs, and in targeting person-tailored interventions.