Purpose: To demonstrate the value of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) notion of functioning as an operationalisation of health so as to describe, measure, and explain the lived experience of health, which is what matters to people about their health.Methods: Conceptual analysis based on evidence on the need to describe, measure, and compare states of health.Results: The ICF is the ideal framework to operationalise the lived experience of health. Its application in rehabilitation in particular, shows its value for the standardised reporting of outcomes of health interventions, clinical and services quality management, and evidence-informed health policy.Conclusions: The ICF provides both the frame of reference for an operationalisation of health that satisfies the intuitive understanding of what matters to people about their health and the technical tools for both health sciences and practice.Implications for rehabilitationAn operationalisation of health is essential to describe the relative health status of individuals and populations as well as to measure the impact of rehabilitation interventions.An operationalisation of health focuses on the lived experience of health.The International Classification of Health, Functioning and Disability (ICF) is the ideal framework to operationalise the lived experience of health.
Keywords: Disability and Health (ICF); Health; International Classification of Functioning; functioning; operationalisation of health; rehabilitation.