Examination of the relevance of the ICF cores set for stroke by comparing with the Stroke Impact Scale

Purpose: To examine if the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) core set for stoke contains problems that are relevant for the persons living with stroke as expressed in the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS). Methods: Cross-sectional study of 242 persons with previous stroke. The agreement between the perceived problems in the SIS items and problems in the categories of Comprehensive ICF Core Set for stroke were analyzed using percent of agreement and Kappa statistic. Results: The analyses between 57 items of the SIS and 31 second-level categories of the ICF were conducted. The problems in domains of Mobility, Activities of daily living, Hand function, Strength in the SIS had moderate agreement when compared to ICF categories. The SIS domains of Emotion and Communication, as well as some aspects of the Memory had slight or fair agreement with corresponding ICF categories. The results of the study suggest that there is acceptable agreement between persons after stroke and health professionals in the physical aspects, but rather poor agreement in the cognitive and emotional aspects of functioning. Conclusions: Health professionals do not fully capture the magnitude of emotional or social problems experienced by persons after stroke when using the ICF Core Set as a framework for evaluation.