Use to record an assessment of an individual’s ability to perform an activity independently at a specific point in time, reflecting the combined impact of impairments and contextual factors across physical, sensory, cognitive, emotional, or social domains.
This archetype is one of a set of three related archetypes designed to represent different aspects of how an individual functions in everyday life. Together, these archetypes support a structured representation of functional ability, the underlying impairments that may contribute to functional limitations and the supports required to enable or assist an individual to perform an activity. The other archetypes are:
- EVALUATION.functional_impairment_summary and
- EVALUATION.functional_support_requirements.
The scope of this archetype is to support assessment of three complementary aspects of functional ability: whether the individual can perform the activity (ability), how difficult it is for them to do so (difficulty), and whether supervision, physical or cognitive help from another person is required (assistance).
Within this archetype, ability is assessed based on the individual's independent performance of the activity. Independence is interpreted through an ICF lens: an individual is considered independent when performing an activity without supervision or assistance from another person, even when personal tools or assistive devices are used, such as a smartphone reminder, glasses, hearing aids, mobility aids, or a support animal. Ability, difficulty, and independence represent complementary but distinct aspects of functional performance. An individual may be able to perform an activity independently while experiencing substantial difficulty, which may indicate emerging functional decline or increased support requirements.
Performance of an activity is often context dependent and may vary due to factors such as environment, fatigue, pain, or availability of assistive devices. Where an activity is performed under different conditions, such as with and without an assistive device, repeating pairs of state and data may be recorded in the same instance of the archetype. This allows multiple variants of the same activity to be captured during a single assessment, reflecting the impact of differing conditions on the individual’s ability and level of difficulty.
The scope of functional ability includes:
- Everyday functioning - assessment of the individual’s ability to perform common activities that underpin independent living and social interaction. This may identify the need for supportive interventions.
- Functional competence - assessment of the individual’s ability to perform activities defined by regulatory, occupational, or licensing frameworks that may inform risk management, certification, licensing, or formal clearance decisions in regulated or safety-critical environments.
Functional ability may be assessed across a range of areas of activity and participation including, but not limited to:
- mobility,
- self-care,
- communication,
- domestic life,
- attending work or school,
- community participation,
- recognised groupings of activities, such as personal activities of daily living (pADLs) or instrumental activities of daily living (iADLs), and
- activities performed in regulated, occupational, or safety-critical contexts.
Activities may be:
- Simple or foundational actions that can be observed as discrete tasks, such as standing up from a chair, brushing hair, or gripping a cup.
- Complex or composite activities that require a sequence of simpler actions to complete a broader task, such as transferring from bed to chair, preparing a meal, managing medications, or driving a car.
World Health Organization. International classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF) [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2001 [cited 2026 Jan 19]. Available from: https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/international-classification-of-functioning-disability-and-health
Organisation: Atomica Informatics
Email: heather.leslie@atomicainformatics.com
Date originally authored: 2025-12-09
Organisation: Atomica Informatics
Email: heather.leslie@atomicainformatics.com
Date originally authored: 2025-12-09
- Licence: This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.
- Custodian Organisation: openEHR Foundation
- References: Functional ability, Draft data group. Sparked AU FHIR accelerator, Australian Clinical Data for Interoperability Release 3. World Health Organization. International classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF) [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2001 [cited 2026 Jan 19]. Available from: https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/international-classification-of-functioning-disability-and-health
- Original Namespace: org.openehr
- Original Publisher: openEHR Foundation
- Custodian Namespace: org.openehr
- MD5-CAM-1.0.1: 30493D56B180154D46EC42D85532F404
- Build Uid: 5dfb6b02-1b9f-40b1-b80e-16152189f32f
- Revision: 0.0.1-alpha
For example: describing the environment, method, or situation in which the assessment was carried out.
For example: modified cutlery, a motorised wheelchair or a support animal.
For example: modified cutlery, a motorised wheelchair or a support animal.
Include:
openEHR-EHR-CLUSTER.device.v1 and specialisations
Coding with an external terminology is recommended. Free text entry should only be permitted where no appropriate coded value is available. For example: Mobility – roll over in bed, transfer from bed to chair, walk upstairs; Self-care – brush teeth, put on footwear, menstrual care; Communication – read, speak, write; Domestic life – shop for food, clean the kitchen, wash clothes; Attending work or school – use public transport, seek a job; Community participation – play sport, join a club, attend the theatre.
An individual may be able to perform the activity independently while still experiencing substantial difficulty. The degree of difficulty experienced when performing the activity independently is recorded separately using the 'Difficulty level'. Coding with an external terminology is recommended. Free text entry should only be permitted if no appropriate coded value is available. Note: Ability and difficulty represent complementary assessments of the individual's performance of the activity.
Choice of:
Coded Text- Able [The individual can perform the activity.]
- Partially able [The individual can perform the activity to a limited extent.]
- Unable [The individual cannot perform the activity.]
Text
Difficulty may be present even when the individual is able to perform the activity completely independently and may indicate a need for increased functional support or adaptation. Coding with an external terminology is recommended. Free text entry should only be permitted if no appropriate coded value is available.
Choice of:
- Text
- Coded Text
- No difficulty [The individual experiences no difficulty when performing the activity.]
- Mild difficulty [The individual experiences a low degree of difficulty when performing the activity.]
- Moderate difficulty [The individual experiences a significant degree of difficulty when performing the activity.]
- Severe difficulty [The individual experiences a high degree of difficulty when performing the activity.]
For example: local information requirements; or additional metadata to align with FHIR.
Include:
All not explicitly excluded archetypes