Exploring the international uptake of the “F‐words in childhood disability”: A citation analysis
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AbstractBackgroundThe “F‐words in childhood disability” (function, family, fitness, fun, friends, and future) were introduced in a concept paper in 2012 entitled, “The F‐words in childhood disability: I swear this is how we should think!”. The “F‐words” are grounded in, and aim to operationalize, the World Health Organization's (World Health Organization, 2001) International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. A citation analysis was conducted to explore the extent of research uptake of the “F‐words” concepts.MethodsThree databases—Google Scholar, Wiley Online, and Web of Science—were searched from July 2012 to December 2018 for sources that cited the original F‐words paper. Dates of publication and countries of first authors were extracted from all cited articles, and a taxonomy was developed to categorize the type of usage.ResultsThe search yielded 157 sources from 26 countries, and the number of citations has continued to increase since the paper's publication. Sources were placed into three categories: cited/referenced (n = 109; i.e., the paper was simply cited), integrated/informed (n = 36; i.e., the F‐words were stated within the text), and non‐English (n = 12). Of the 36 integrated/informed sources, 34 (94.4%) applied the F‐words to the ICF framework and five themes emerged with respect to the use of the F‐words: (a) support of a holistic approach to childhood disability, (b) association of the F‐words to physical activity and rehabilitation, (c) application and measurement of quality of life, (d) F‐words research team‐related papers, and (e) “other” category.ConclusionThis citation analysis shows that the F‐words are mainly being used to operationalize the ICF, support a holistic approach to childhood disability, and inform physical activity and rehabilitation‐based interventions. These perspectives will play an important role in informing the next steps with respect to moving the F‐words into research and practice.
