The integration of the ICF into clinical rehabilitation practice and intervention planning holds significant promise but is also confronted with an array of practical challenges. One of the principal difficulties is the interaction of concepts such as body structure, function, activity and participation and the dynamic interplay of personal and environmental factors. Domain and condition-specific instruments have been developed to capture the different ICF components. ICF Core Sets have been developed among others for brain injury, musculo-skeletal conditions, osteoporosis, low back pain, stroke, cancer, and children with communication disabilities.
Another challenge that has emerged is coding for the different concepts in clinical assessments and the development of reliable and valid tools that capture the respective domains.
Rehabilitation Process and Outcome is calling for research, systematic review and conceptual papers that place the ICF at their center. Particularly, research with focus on scale and instrument development is of interest. Further, papers that explore environmental factors, such as barriers in various community-based settings in which rehabilitation may take place or which people with disabilities have to navigate are very welcome. Manuscripts that focus on evaluations of interventions that are based on ICF concepts would be favorably considered. Conceptual discussions in how ICF constructs may be integrated with ICD-10 or DSM-IV classification systems as well as with psychosocial theories would also be of considerable value to the reader.
Rehabilitation Process and Outcome aims at fostering interdisciplinary dialog and invites submissions from clinical and social science researchers. Work by the latter is of substantial importance to contextualise disability, health assessments and interventions.
The 2007 report by the Institute of Medicine, entitled The ‘Future of Disability in America’ (p. 46/47) states that the ICF is a classification scheme and not a process model of disability or enablement/disablement. Connecting process models that examine environmental and personal factors with the ICF is of critical importance to understand activity and participation outcomes. The same report points to the need of research into the role of quality of life, personal factors and issues of multimorbidity in the context of the ICF.
What is the advantage to you of publishing in Rehabilitation Process and Outcome?
- Full open access: everyone can read your article and you retain copyright in it
- Publishing decision within 2 weeks of submission
- Your paper will not be rejected due to lack of space and will be published immediately on acceptance
- Prompt and fair peer review from two expert peer reviewers
- Frequent updates on your paper’s status
- Friendly responsive staff
Rehabilitation Process and Outcome is a journal that publishes papers in all areas of the rehabilitation process.
What a previous author said:
"LA is different, and hopefully represents a kind of scientific publication machinery that removes the hurdles from free flow of scientific thought."In summary:
The advantages of a younger journal such as Rehabilitation Process and Outcome are numerous but in essence allow us a greater flexibility and responsiveness to authors and readers that older journals cannot match.
Next steps:
- Visit the journal's home page (full open access to all articles)
- Get a manuscript in preparation approved for peer review
- Submit a manuscript now (fast 3-step submission process)
- Send me an inquiry
Yours sincerely,
Dr Thilo Kroll
Editor-in-Chief
Rehabilitation Process and Outcome
Posts
