Core Self-Evaluations as Personal Factors in the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Model: An Application in Persons With Spinal Cord Injury

Purpose: To evaluate Chan, Gelman, Ditchman, Kim, and Chiu’s (2009) revised World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) model using core self-evaluations (CSE) to account for Personal Factors in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Method: One hundred eighty-seven adults with SCI were recruited to take an online survey including measurement scales representing each component of the revised ICF model: Functioning, Activities, Participation, Environmental Factors, Personal Factors, and Quality Of Life. Path analysis was used to evaluate the hypothesized relationships among the ICF components.

Results: A respecified path model revealed a strong model-to-data fit, χ²(3, N = 187) = 6.84; p = .08; goodness-of-fit index (GFI) = .99; comparative fit index (CFI) = .99; and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .08. Taking into account all of the ICF components, CSE had the strongest direct effect on life satisfaction (β = .40, p < .01).

Conclusion: This study supports CSE as a significant and direct predictor of life satisfaction in persons with SCI, indicating that CSE may be an important target for intervention in a biopsychosocial approach toward SCI rehabilitation. These findings provide a basis for future research to investigate the role of CSE in quality of life among people with varying health conditions.