Social consequences of long term impairments and disabilities: conceptual approach and assessment of handicap.

OBJECTIVES: To present a conceptual model of disablement adapted from the WHO model and to conduct a pilot study with a measurement tool (LIFE-H) of the concepts of life habits and handicap situations. DESIGN: Content validity and test-retest reliability study. SETTING: General community. PARTICIPANTS: A panel of 12 experts of rehabilitation for the process of content validity and 49 individuals with spinal cord disorders (adults and children) for the reliability study. OUTCOMES MEASURES: a person's life habits (activities of daily living and social roles). RESULTS: The LIFE-H questionnaire was designed to assess the handicap situations observed in daily life of individuals with disability. The experts concluded that the LIFE-H items covered most of a person's life habits (ADL and social roles) and that it could be used to determine the appearance of handicap situations. The LIFE-H total score showed a good level of reliability for the children and the adult samples (ICC = 0.73 and 0.74, respectively). Taken individually, a majority of life habit categories have shown a moderate to high reliability level (ICC > or = 0.50) while a few life habit categories such as the interpersonal relationship or nutrition showed a lower reliability level. CONCLUSION: The development of LIFE-H allows fulfillment of the need to determine the disruptions in life habits of persons with disabilities.