Article

Traumatic brain injury is a sudden and unexpected condition that gives rise to different impairments in body functions and structures leading to
dramatic life changes, not only to the patient but also to his or her family and
ultimately in the wider society.
As a health strategy, rehabilitation aims to
reduce disability and increasing the quality of life of those people that suffer
from TBI but also to reduce the social burden associated with it. Functioning is
the starting point of rehabilitation and the use of measurement instruments and
classifications are commonly used tools for its definition. Within the
endorsement of the ICF by WHO, there is now a classification and a conceptual
framework for the description of functioning providing an opportunity of a full
understanding of the experience of TBI. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to identify
the utility of ICF in TBI as well as bringing new challenges for further clinical
practice and research. CONCLUSIONS: ICF has shown itself to be useful in the
content comparison of measurement instruments. It has also been used to describe
the functional profile of individuals with TBI in both acute and chronic phases
making it possible to draw comparisons across other health conditions.
Furthermore, the development of the TBI ICF Core Sets provided an item bank to
describe not only functional status but also to set goals and plan interventions.
Overall, we now have a potentially useful tool in rehabilitation of TBI that
allows us to understand the full burden of traumatic brain injury.

Langue : ANGLAIS