There are a number of instruments commonly used to determine the presence and severity of sleepiness or assess specific symptoms. For defined sleep disorders there are several well-validated condition-specific instruments in use, whereas for other sleep disorders there is a lack of widely accepted condition-specific instruments. All existing instruments typically cover only selected aspects of the whole-patient experience associated with sleep disorders. It would, therefore, be valuable for clinical practice and research to have a practical tool that covers the spectrum of symptoms and limitations in the functioning of all patients with sleep disorders, taking into account also the environments in which they live. To tackle this challenge, the ICF Research Branch, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) initiated a project to develop internationally-accepted, evidence-based, reliable, and valid ICF Core Sets for sleep.
The preparatory phase of the project included the following studies:
The information collected from these preparatory studies was presented at the international consensus conference, a multi-stage, iterative, decision-making and consensus process that took place at the Swiss Paraplegic Research (Switzerland) from 28-30 May 2009. At this consensus conference, 26 experts from 22 countries worldwide with different professional backgrounds decided which ICF categories are to be included in the first version of the ICF Core Sets for sleep.
120 ICF categories were selected for inclusion in the Comprehensive ICF Core for Sleep Disorders. Out of the 120 Comprehensive ICF Core Set categories, 15 second-level ICF categories were selected for the Brief ICF Core for Sleep Disorders. The ICF Core Sets for Sleep Disorders should be seen as an addition to established tools for collecting information (e.g., validated patient questionnaires, polysomnography, Multiple Sleep Latency Tests). It can serve as a comprehensive framework to structure available health information and to guide comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment and follow-up of persons with sleep disorders. Validation studies are being conducted.
For more information, feel free to contact the ICF Research Branch (felix.gradinger@paranet.ch).
Copyright 2017 ICF Research Branch