Personal factors are not classified in ICF as result of a discussion in the construction of ICF, where people from Disability organisations stressed the fact that PF can be used for 'blaming' the person: it is her or his fault.
It is acknowledged that in the context of the Framework PF do have a place and role, and there is a definition for PF.
In the ICF you will find classes which are called 'Personal Functions', in fact referring to PF, but not to be used as such. There is a repeated discussion about PF, because in daily practice there is a need for being able to code PF in the same way as you would code EF; they can be a facilitator or a barrier in the context of history taking or in planning of interventions.
For Primary care a questionnaire has been developed: the ICFPC, in which PF do have a place. The ethical principle on how to apply them is that the professional is not scoring them, but the patient her- or himself, and they can only be used if the patient agrees that they play a role. So it is not an outside judgement from the professional as happens many times in health care. The result is that professionals who use it in this way are more aware of the fact that they unintentionally do judge the patient, but in fact it is just a personal opinion without any bearing.
