ICF-CY base surveillance of student functioning in Qatar schools

Reliance on diagnoses to determine eligibility of children for supports and services is problematic in that diagnoses often mask functional characteristics and lack applicability for planning intervention. The ICF for Children and Youth (WHO, 2006) offers an alternate approach, documenting limitations of functioning. This paper describes a pilot study of an ICF-CY based inventory for surveillance and identification of students with functional limitations in the Qatar Independent Schools. The Qatar Inventory of School Functioning (QISF) consists of 38 items based on ICF-CY codes defining performance characteristics in school environments. Teachers served as key respondents, rating functional characteristics on a scale of 1 (appropriate for age) to 5 (extreme limitation) of more than 2400 primary students. A subgroup of 240 children was rated by a second teacher for reliability analysis. In addition, a subset of children with functional limitations currently receiving additional services was included for validation analyses. Completion of the QISF yielded item profiles reflecting the nature and severity of functional limitations unique to a child as well as profiles shared by groups of children. Analyses revealed satisfactory evidence for internal consistency of the inventory as well as reliability between raters. Significant differences were found between children already identified and those not identified supporting the validity of the approach. The findings supported implementation of the QISF to screen children in need of additional support and the value of profiles of student functioning for defining follow-up assessment and intervention efforts.