Article

Researchers in early childhood conducting secondary data analysis face a
number of challenges shared by other early childhood professionals, including
needs for efficient, descriptive language to convey characteristics of
individuals' functioning to varied audiences. These professionals may benefit
from a systematic approach for organising and sharing data which can describe
children as functioning wholes with skills across many domains. This study
explored the ability of the International Classification of Functioning,
Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) to address these needs by
considering its utility to adequately organise and describe constructs of child
functioning in an existing data set. METHODS: Variables from a large data set
were mapped to chapters of the ICF-CY Activities/Participation component. Factor
analysis with a split-half approach was utilised to explore the relative
structural integrity of chapter structure as a mechanism for generating a profile
of constructs of child functioning. RESULTS: All variables mapped to chapters of the ICF-CY Activities/Participation component. The factor analyses indicated that
variables, which mapped to the same chapter tended to load to the same factor,
with the exception of items describing child communication which loaded to all
factors. Results further suggested the overlapping nature of children's skills,
such that skills in one area likely impact functioning in other functioning
domains. CONCLUSION: The ICF-CY provides adequate depth and breadth for use in
conceptualising new questions and information in existing data sets. Findings
suggest the structure of the ICF-CY Activities/Participation chapters could be
used for generating meaningful profiles of human functioning across salient domains.
CI - (c) 2011 Informa UK, Ltd.

Langue : ANGLAIS