eNCPT vs ICHI - Nutrition Intervention Terms

       

          In late 2018, the World Health Organization has released the Beta version of the classification system for health interventions called the International Classification of Health Interventions. (1)  As "Beta" indicates this is not a final version, but is being released for testing and comment.  

          While many countries and professions have developed their own list of  procedures to describe interventions, this classification is hoped to be a unifying structure.  It will be interesting to see how the eNCPT can be mapped to the ICHI in the future.  

         This classification system is intended to reflect the interventions delivered across all sectors of the health system: medical, surgical, primary care, community health, rehabilitation, allied health, mental health, nursing, assistance with functioning, traditional medicine and public health interventions.  The terms are now available in an on-line searchable database and have ~8000 intervention terms.  

          The health interventions are grouped into four sections depending on the target of the intervention:

• Interventions on Body Systems and Functions
• Interventions on Activities and Participation Domains
• Interventions on the Environment
• Interventions on Health-related Behaviours

          Each intervention in ICHI is described in terms of the target (the entity on which the action is carried out), the action (the deed done by an actor to the target), and means (the processes and methods by which the action is carried out).   

Below are a few of the comparisons from the ICHI and the eNCPT

eNCPT Definition of Nutrition Intervention	ICHI Definition of Health Intervention
an act performed for, with or on behalf of a person or a population whose purpose is to assess, improve, maintain, promote or modify health, functioning or health conditions.	a purposely planned action(s) designed with the intent of changing a nutrition-related behavior, risk factor, environmental condition, or aspect of health status to resolve or improve the identified nutrition diagnosis(es) or nutrition problem(s).

This Classification is comparable to the Nutrition Intervention terms included in the eNCPT. See below for a few examples.

eNCPT	Similar ICHI Term
Nutrition Education (E) Nutrition Education Content (1)  (3 more specific terms)	Education to influence eating behaviours
Nutrition Education Application (2) (3 more specific terms)	Training to influence eating behaviours
NUTRITION COUNSELING (C) (5 more specific theoretical basis/approach and 11 more specific strategies)	Advising about eating behaviours Or Counselling about eating behaviours
NUTRITION BASED POPULATION ACTION (P) Population strategies (2)       Environmental change       (3 more specific terms)	Environment modification to influence eating behaviours

(1)  International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI), World Health Organization, Beta version.  Available at:  https://www.who.int/classifications/ichi/en/.  Accessed December 23, 2018