ICF-Based Interdisciplinary Case Management for Individuals With Disabilities (ICF)

September 6, 2026 updated by: Prof. Sam Chan, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Application of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) on Interdisciplinary Case Management for Healthcare Service Delivery for Individuals With Disabilities

This study evaluates whether an interdisciplinary case management approach based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the Rehab-Cycle® framework can improve rehabilitation outcomes for adults with intellectual disabilities receiving community-based rehabilitation services.

A total of 120 adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities will be recruited from community rehabilitation services and randomly assigned to either an ICF-based interdisciplinary case management group or a conventional care management group. Participants in the ICF-based group will receive coordinated assessments, goal-setting, intervention planning, and outcome evaluation conducted by an interdisciplinary rehabilitation team. Participants in the control group will continue to receive standard services delivered through conventional care management practices.

The study will assess changes in functioning, activity participation, quality of life, life satisfaction, and rehabilitation team effectiveness. The findings will help determine whether ICF-based interdisciplinary case management can provide more personalized, coordinated, and effective community rehabilitation services for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), developed by the World Health Organization, provides a biopsychosocial framework for understanding functioning and disability by integrating body functions, activities, participation, environmental factors, and personal factors. Although the ICF framework has been increasingly promoted for rehabilitation and social service planning, its application in community-based disability services remains limited. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing an ICF-based interdisciplinary case management model inspired by the Rehab-Cycle® framework in community rehabilitation services for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

The study will employ a randomized controlled trial with pre-intervention and post-intervention assessments. One hundred and twenty adults aged 18 to 60 years with medically confirmed mild or moderate intellectual disabilities will be recruited from community-based rehabilitation facilities operated by participating non-governmental organizations. Participants will be randomly allocated to either an ICF-based interdisciplinary case management group (n=60) or a conventional care management group (n=60). In addition, approximately fifteen rehabilitation professionals, including social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, nurses, and clinical psychologists, will participate in the interdisciplinary service delivery process.

The intervention will be developed according to the Rehab-Cycle® process. First, a Neurodevelopment Core Set for Intellectual Condition will be established through an expert consensus process using relevant ICF core sets and the Delphi method. The selected ICF categories will guide interdisciplinary assessment and rehabilitation planning. Participants in the intervention group will undergo ICF-based assessment, development of individualized functioning profiles, interdisciplinary goal setting, coordinated intervention planning, and ongoing case review. Participants in the control group will receive conventional rehabilitation services, with assessments and interventions provided independently by different professionals without formal interdisciplinary ICF-based planning.

The primary purpose of the intervention is to improve functioning and participation through coordinated interdisciplinary rehabilitation management. By identifying participants' strengths, limitations, environmental barriers, and facilitators, the interdisciplinary team will establish mutually agreed rehabilitation goals and implement individualized interventions tailored to each participant's needs. Regular interdisciplinary meetings will be conducted to review progress and modify intervention plans as needed.

Outcome measures will evaluate functioning using selected ICF Core Set items covering body functions, activities and participation, and environmental factors. Additional outcomes will include life satisfaction as measured by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), quality of life as measured by the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), and interdisciplinary team effectiveness as measured by the Provider-Perceptions of Team Effectiveness (Provider-PTE) scale. Outcomes will be assessed before and after the intervention period.

The study hypothesizes that participants receiving ICF-based interdisciplinary case management will demonstrate greater improvements in functioning, participation, life satisfaction, and quality of life than those receiving conventional care management. It is also expected that healthcare professionals implementing the ICF-based approach will report enhanced interdisciplinary team effectiveness. The results will contribute evidence regarding the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating the ICF and Rehab-Cycle® frameworks into community-based rehabilitation services and may inform future disability and rehabilitation service planning in Hong Kong and other settings.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

120

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. between the age of 18 and 60 years old,
  2. intellectual disability with mild grade (IQ 50-69) or moderate grade (IQ 35-49) as confirmed by medical doctors,
  3. ability to communicate verbally in Cantonese or English.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. acute and unstable medical conditions (such as seizures),
  2. Current or recent diagnosis of severe psychiatric disorders (e.g., active psychosis, major depressive episode within the past 12 months, or other conditions that significantly impair participation)

Their caregivers will provide proxy consent if the participants with intellectual disability were unable to give the informed consent.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: ICF-based care management group with interdisciplinary Rehab-Cycle® process
Participants will receive an interdisciplinary case management program based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework and the Rehab-Cycle® model. The intervention includes ICF-based assessment, development of individualized functioning profiles, client-centered goal setting, interdisciplinary care planning, coordinated rehabilitation interventions, and regular team reviews. Healthcare professionals collaboratively identify participant needs, establish rehabilitation goals, implement interventions, and monitor outcomes related to functioning, activity, participation, and environmental factors within routine community rehabilitation services.
Behavioral: ICF-Based Interdisciplinary Case Management (Rehab-Cycle®)
Participants will receive interdisciplinary case management based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework and the Rehab-Cycle® process. The intervention includes ICF-based assessment, development of individualized functioning profiles, collaborative goal setting involving participants and healthcare professionals, interdisciplinary care planning, coordinated rehabilitation interventions, and regular interdisciplinary review meetings. Interventions are designed to address body functions, activities, participation, and environmental factors according to each participant's needs within community-based rehabilitation services.
Active Comparator: Conventional care management group without interdisciplinary Rehab-Cycle® process
Participants will receive standard community rehabilitation services routinely provided by participating organizations. Assessments, goal setting, intervention planning, and service delivery will be conducted independently by individual healthcare professionals according to existing practice. No ICF-based functioning profile, structured interdisciplinary case conference, coordinated Rehab-Cycle® process, or formal interdisciplinary intervention planning will be implemented. Participants will continue to receive usual rehabilitation and support services throughout the study period.
Behavioral: Conventional Care Management
Participants will receive standard community rehabilitation services routinely provided by participating non-governmental organizations. Assessments, goal setting, intervention planning, and treatment implementation will be conducted independently by individual healthcare professionals according to usual practice. No ICF-based functioning profile, structured Rehab-Cycle® process, formal interdisciplinary case conference, or coordinated interdisciplinary intervention planning will be used.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
ICF-based assessments of the core set items
Time Frame: before and after the experimental and control interventions in a 6-month period
The selected core set items will be used to assess (a) body functions (b117 intellectual function), (b) activity capacity and participation performance in daily living (e.g. basic interpersonal interactions) and (c) environmental and personal influence (e.g. e310 immediate family). The ICF 5-point qualifier will be used based on the converted results of the corresponding assessments with a scale from 0 (no problem) to 4 (complete problem).
before and after the experimental and control interventions in a 6-month period

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)
Time Frame: before and after the experimental and control interventions in a 6-month period
The SWLS a brief 5-item self-report measure assessing global cognitive judgments of life satisfaction (Diener et al., 1985). Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 ("strongly disagree") to 7 ("strongly agree"), producing a total score between 5 and 35, with higher scores reflecting greater satisfaction. The scale captures cognitive judgments rather than emotional states, making it suitable for diverse populations. Research consistently demonstrates strong psychometric properties, including high internal consistency, good test-retest reliability, and solid construct validity across cultures and age groups. With its robust measurement performance, the SWLS is a widely used tool in health, rehabilitation, and social science research
before and after the experimental and control interventions in a 6-month period
Provider-Perceptions of Team Effectiveness (Provider-PTE)
Time Frame: before and after the experimental and control interventions in a 6-month period
A brief self-report questionnaire that evaluates healthcare providers' perceptions of interdisciplinary team effectiveness in delivering coordinated care. The instrument assesses key domains including communication, role clarity, shared goals, collaboration, and overall team functioning using Likert-type response scales. Higher scores indicate more positive perceptions of team effectiveness. The Provider-PTE has demonstrated good reliability and validity and is sensitive to differences in interprofessional team performance across healthcare settings. The measure will be used to assess changes in interdisciplinary team functioning associated with implementation of the ICF-based case management approach
before and after the experimental and control interventions in a 6-month period

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Collaborators

Sun Yat-sen University
University of Alberta
Ludwig-Maximilians - University of Munich
Yan Chai Hospital Social Services
St. James' Settlement
Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service-Hong Kong
Salvation Army
Yang Memorial Methodist Social Services

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sam Chi Chung Chan, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

October 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 14, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 14, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 31, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 6, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 10, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 10, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 6, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • HSEARS20260103001

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

IPD will not be shared to protect the privacy and confidentiality of participants who are services users of the collaborated NGOs. The informed consent and ethics approval for this study do not include permission for public sharing of individual participant-level data.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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