Type of Project: Funded project Transnational project
Measuring Health and Disability in Europe

MHADIE will demonstrate the feasibility and utility of the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health ( ICF) as a cross-cutting, universal framework and international standard to influence and support new European policy guidelines on health and disability by means of statistical, clinical and experimental research. ICF's universal approach constitutes a paradigm shift in our understanding of disability, one that underscores the need to integrate individual functioning with the complete physical and social environment in order to capture the full lived experience of disability that links health and social policy to promote social integration and increase participation, thereby enhancing opportunities for persons with disabilities. This Co-ordination Action brings together institutions and researchers from 11 countries to demonstrate the application of the ICF model in the collection of health and disability data, and will show that data currently being collected, nationally and internationally, embody conceptual confusions, inconsistencies and ambiguities about disability and the relationship between health conditions, impairments and environmental factors. The project will network and coordinate European partners that are involved at regional, national and international level with the implementation of ICF, ICF children version and ICF related instruments in clinical samples of selected conditions. Specifically, objectives of the this Co-ordination Action are, - to employ the ICF model of functioning and disability to analyse existing general population health surveys and education statistics data; - to demonstrate that the ICF model is adequate for describing and measuring patterns of disability in clinical samples of selected conditions, cross-sectionally and over time; - to demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of the ICF for collecting and managing data in educational sectors. These results will produce specific policy recommendations and guidelines designed for use in health disability policy planning and development across the European Union. They will be presented and discussed at an international conference and at country-level meetings.