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The biopsychosocial model

This model of disability considers how biological, psychological, and social factors interact to create disability.

Last updated: 14 Nov 2025

In 2001, the World Health Organization produced a framework called the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)(Opens in a new tab/window), which describes disability as an interaction between a person’s bodily functioning and any limits on their activities or barriers to their participation. How these interact with a person’s health, environment and personal factors will affect their ability to fully participate in society. This model is called the biopsychosocial model (because it considers the body, the mind and society) and is sometimes called BPS for short.1 

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