Application of the international classification of functioning, disability and health (icf) in a therapeutic-educational approach for chronic low back pain

Purpose: To validate empirically the Brief core set for low back pain of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health in the context of a Back School program. Method: Quantitative, descriptive and cross sectional study with 69 subjects, from April to November 2015. The core set was applied by asking questions of Body Functions, Activities and Participation and Environmental Factors. Clinical records and complementary examinations of physical therapy assessment were used to classify Body Structures. Categories were considered representative and validated for the sample when 20% or more of subjects presented some difficulty. Data were processed by IBM SPSS Statistics 20. Results: Predominance of females (65.2 %) and age between 18 and 78 years (mean ± SD = 41.78 ± 17.09). In Body functions 8 in 10 categories were above 20%; Activities and participation, 9 in 12 were considered representative; Environmental Factors, all 10 categories presented more than 20% of the sample considering items as facilitators. Any category of Body structures was considered validated. Conclusion: Categories of the ICF core set were considered validated to the context of health education to low back pain. This generates a classification tool that complements the understanding of functionality through body functions, social and environmental aspects to better guide rehabilitation interventions.