title: Setting up a cohort study of functioning: From classification to measurement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cohort studies are an appropriate method for the collection of population-based longitudinal data to track people's health and functioning over time. However, describing and understanding functioning in its complexity with all its determinants is one of the biggest challenges faced by clinicians and researchers.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper focuses on the development of a cohort study on functioning, outlining the relevant steps and related methods, and illustrating these with reference to the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Cohort Study (SwiSCI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In setting up a cohort study the initial step is to specify which variables are to be included, i.e. what to assess. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is valuable in this process. The second step is to identify how to assess the specified ICF categories. Existing instruments and assessments can then be linked to the ICF.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The methods outlined here enable the development of a cohort study to be based on a comprehensive perspective of health, operationalized through functioning as conceptualized and classified in the ICF, yet to remain efficient and feasible to administer.
authors.affiliation: ICF Unit, Swiss Paraplegic Research (SPF), CH-6207 Nottwil, Switzerland. E-mail: birgit.prodinger@paraplegie.ch.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Prodinger
authors.forename: Carolina Saskia
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Ballert
authors.forename: Alarcos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cieza
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D064702:International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health; D012107:Research Design; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000145:classification*; D013557:Switzerland