[Personal factors of the ICF]

Purpose: The presentation aims at illustrating the draft proposal of personal factors of the ICF for German-speaking regions which has been published in 2010 by the working group ICF of Faculty II "Social Medicine and Rehabilitation" of the German Society for Social Medicine and Prevention, DGSMP. For this reason, each personal factor is illustrated by two examples. Thus, the benefit is intended to be convincing.

Methods: Applying a qualitative approach, the working group ICF consisting of members of various professions and institutions including a patients' representative selected for each item one example the factor serving as a facilitator and a second the factor serving as a barrier.

Results: The components of the personal factors, as proposed, are presented, each factor is accompanied by two examples.

Conclusion: The presentation demonstrates the various possibilities of applying personal factors and intends to prove that the selection of items chosen makes sense. The process of a comprehensive discussion about the possible format of the component of personal factors in the ICF should lead to a further optimization of the proposal and the preparation of a discussion at an international level.