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Personal and environmental factors interacting with disability:
Application of the ICF-Checklist on a group of Guatemala street urchins
Stefano Federici1, - Silvia Caggiano2 – Marta Olivetti Belardinelli1,2
1ECONA, University of Rome “La Sapienza”
2Department of Psychology, University of Rome ”La Sapienza”
Abstract
There is an estimate of 5000 (0,4‰) street urchins in Guatemala which for a
population of 12,600,000 people (Data from the U.S. Census Bureau estimated
for 2000). This large number is a consequence of many social and political
factors such as increase in poverty due to the concentration of population in the
city after the civil war of the 80s.
This survey intends to study the health conditions and the social integration of
the street urchins in Guatemala. The ICF-Checklist was adopted to classify both
health and health related conditions, focusing on how body functioning and
socio/cultural aspects interact.
Along with an unstructured interview, in a face-to-face modality, the ICF-
Checklist, as a tool to elicit and record information on the functioning and
disability from a biopsychosocial perspective, was administered. The contents
of the interview were developed by list-codes of the ICF-Checklist selected in
order to checking the specific conditions of the street urchins. The codes were
selected within the components of Activity and Participation and
Environmental factors.
18 subjects (10 male, 8 female) between 16 to 28 years old were interviewed.
They were grouped for similar habit and places frequented.
The results confirm that the ICF-Checklist is a tool capable classifying
multifactorial dimensions of disability in operational, universal, and sharable
codes, although applicable and usable only by experts of the instrument and
professionals of the field surveyed.
A common profile of the street urchins is characterized by a complete lack of
trust in governmental institutions and, especially, in police officers. The
immediate family doesn't give any kind of social support and very often is seen
as the reason to leave their home. Rather friends are experienced as a new
family. Their low level of education prevents them to find a stable and
profitable job.
Bibliography
Lutte, G. (2001). Principesse e sognatori nelle strade in Guatemala. Roma:
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World Health Organization. (2001). International classification of functioning,
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