Measuring health and disability : manual for WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (‎WHODAS 2.0)‎

Overview

The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) is a generic assessment instrument developed by WHO to provide a standardized method for measuring health and disability across cultures. It was developed from a comprehensive set of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) items that are  sufficiently reliable and sensitive to measure the difference made by a given intervention. This is achieved by assessing the same individual before and after the intervention. A series of systematic field studies was used to determine the schedule’s crosscultural applicability, reliability and validity, as well as its utility in health services research. WHODAS 2.0 was found to be useful for assessing health and disability levels in the general population through surveys and for measuring the clinical effectiveness and productivity gains from interventions.

This manual summarizes the methodology used to develop WHODAS 2.0 and the findings obtained when the schedule was applied to certain areas of general health, including mental and neurological disorders. The manual will be useful to any researcher or clinician wishing to use WHODAS 2.0 in their practice. It includes the seven versions of WHODAS 2.0, which differ in length and intended mode of administration. It also provides general population norms; these allow WHODAS 2.0 values for certain subpopulations to be compared with those for the general population.

The manual is aimed at public health professionals, doctors, other health professionals (e.g. rehabilitation professionals, physical therapists and occupational therapists), health-policy planners, social scientists and other individuals involved in studies on disability and health. It may be of particular interest to general health workers, but also to psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists and addiction health workers, because it places mental health and addiction problems on an equal basis with other areas of general health.