Table 2.

Concepts mainly related to the ICF components

Concepts	ICF	A	R	S	CH
Body functions and structures
Body image and appearance, including weight maintenance/loss	b1801, b530	•	•	•
Self-confidence	b1266		•
Sleeping	b134	•	•	•	•
Fatigue, lack of power and motivation, needs rest, slower pace	b130, b4552	•	•	•	•
Memory functions	b144	•
Emotional issues	b152	•	•	•	•
Pain	b280	•	•	•	•
Affected sex life	b640			•
Impaired speech ability	b310	•		•
Functions of the immune system	b430	•		•
Structure and functions of the skin, ulcers	b8, s810	•	•	•
Impaired tough function, numbness, sensations related to the skin, increased sensibility, loss of sensory functions	b265, b840	•	•	•
Dry mucous membranes, dry mouth, eyes, nose	b898, s898	•	•	•	•
Affected connective tissue	b798, s7703			•
Functions and structures of cardiovascular system, endurance	b4, s4	•	•	•
Breathing problems, cough	b4, s4	•	•	•
Blood vessel functions, Raynaud's syndrome, feeling cold in whole body, hands and feet, cold hands, pain in hands	b415	•	•	•	•
Ingestion functions, swallowing problems, dysphagia, mouth too small, problems with oesophagus	b510, s510, s520	•	•	•	•
Digestive functions, stomach complaints, diarrhoea, bowel problems	b5, b515, s5	•	•	•
Swelling of body parts	b545		•	•	•
Chills	b550		•
Function and structure of hair	b850, s840	•	•
Function and structure of nails	b860, s830		•
Heart	b410, s4100	•		•
Kidneys	b610, b545, s6100	•		•
Pancreas	b598, s550	•
Gall bladder	b598, s570			•
Lung, bronchiae	b440, s4301, s43010	•	•	•	•
Stiffness (of muscles, joints, fingers, knees, skin, tendons), cramps, calcification	b710, b715, b8, s810, s770	•	•	•	•
Structure, stability and mobility of the (peripheral) joints, such as shoulder or knee	b710, b715, s770	•		•
Structure and functions of movement-related muscles	b730, b735, b740, s7702	•
Bones	b729, s7700	•
Activities and participation
Mobility, including going out when it is cold	d4	•	•	•
Changing and keeping body positions	d410, d415			•	•
Lifting and carrying objects	d430	•		•	•
Impaired hand function related to problems with activities of daily living	d440, d445, d4	•	•	•	•
Fine motor skills of the hand, turning, twisting and fumbling	d440, d4453		•	•	•
Use of arm and hand	d445		•	•	•
Using public transportation	d470		•	•
Driving a car	d4751	•		•
Eating and drinking, eating dry food	d550, d560		•	•	•
Self-care	d5			•	•
Applying self-treatment strategies, such as movement, exercise, other strategies to keep hands warm, higher temperature at home, being occupied, drinking during eating helps, stopping to smoke, going to a spa, special shampoo against hair loss, diet	d570	•		•
Preparing meals	d630		•	•	•
Household activities	d640	•	•	•	•
Maintaining dwelling	d6501			•
Gardening	d6505			•
Caring for children/grandchildren	d660			•
Paid work and productive activities	d8	•	•	•	•
Riding a bicycle	d4750			•	•
Shopping, entering into cold rooms in supermarkets	d6200		•	•	•
Leisure activities such as sports, skiing, dancing, playing an instrument, listening to music, doing crafts, fishing, doing creative things, singing in a choir, gardening	d920		•	•	•
Socialising, loneliness	d9205	•		•	•
Environmental (e) and personal factors (PF) in the ICF as well as to the health condition (HC) itself
Drugs and side effects of these	e1101	•	•	•	•
Means for keeping warm such as warming pads, gloves, mittens	e1150	•		•
Hard to find the right clothes that keep warm	e1150	•		•
Assistive devices, adaptations, adapted car, electronic devices	e115	•		•	•
Infrastructure, such as nearby supermarkets and public transportation	e120, e5		•		•
Loss of income	e1650		•	•	•
Crowds	e215		•
Climate, cold weather, too much heat, cold in one's flat	e225, e298	•	•	•	•
Noise	e250		•
Support of partner, family, relatives, friends	e310, e315	•	•	•	•
Support of other people with diseases	e325		•	•
Support of colleagues	e325			•
Support of employers	e330			•
Support of personal assistant	e340				•
Support of strangers	e345	•
Support of pets	e350	•		•
Support of health professionals specialised for SSc	e355		•	•
Attitudes of family members	e410		•	•
Attitudes of strangers	e445		•
Attitudes of friends	e420	•
Attitudes of colleagues	e425		•	•
Attitudes of employers	e430			•
Attitudes of health professionals, such as a lack of understanding, needing to go to a private practice and pay for the service	e450	•		•
Employers' policies	e		•
Experiences with healthcare institutions, including negative experiences	e450	•	•	•	•
Non-pharmacological treatment, wax bath, treatment of dentists, treatment of occupational therapists, treatment of physiotherapists, (treatment in) healthcare institutions, social security system, benefits	e5	•	•	•	•
Positive experience of the disease, being in control, being strong owing to having mastered the disease, positive attitude towards disease	PF	•	•	•	•
Struggle to master one's life with the disease, such as unclear future, unclear outcome, needing to compromise, change of expectations	PF	•	•	•	•
Changing the way of doing things, adapting daily activities to own abilities	PF	•		•	•
Mental and physical exhaustion, impaired fitness as referring to the current individual state of the body	PF		•	•
Own attitudes towards SSc, towards being ill, towards accepting help, towards drugs, feeling guilt towards partners, family members and children, not viewing oneself as ill, focusing on what one can do	PF		•	•	•
Gender-specific differences: losing hair is terrible for a woman, change of gender roles in relationships	PF	•	•
Course of the disease	HC	•	•	•

Higher level concepts which relate to ICF categories are described in the tables ordered by ICF component. Lower-level concepts are not shown in the tables. Concepts that emerged in all four countries are marked in bold. ‘A’ refers to Austria, ‘R’ to Romania, ‘S’ to Sweden and ‘CH’ to Switzerland. ‘b’ categories are included in the ICF component body functions, ‘s’ are body structures, ‘d’ activities and participation and ‘e’ environmental factors.

A, Austria; CH, Switzerland; R, Romania; S, Sweden.

ICF, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health; SSc, systemic sclerosis.