University of Minnesota School of Nursing, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Nurs Res. 2011 May-Jun;60(3 Suppl):S5-14. doi: 10.1097/NNR.0b013e318216dfd3.
Understanding change in health and illness over time is central to creating and evaluating interventions for individuals, families, and populations. The term health trajectory is a succinct and useful way to describe change in health status over time.
The aims of this article were to define the notion of a health trajectory; comment on the usefulness and current status of health trajectory research for nursing science and practice; and identify and illustrate the key elements of theory, design, and statistical models for health trajectory research.
Constructs in theory about individual change are summarized, synthesized with characteristics of longitudinal design and statistical models for change, and discussed in light of current and emerging health care priorities and trends in nursing research.
Health trajectory research is person focused and congruent with the person-centered emphasis of nursing practice. The contribution of nursing science to the overall effort to improve health will be enhanced when change over time is explicit in nursing theory, longitudinal designs are used, and contemporary statistical approaches for modeling change in health status are incorporated into research plans.
了解个体、家庭和人群的健康和疾病随时间的变化是制定和评估干预措施的核心。健康轨迹是一个简洁而有用的术语，可以描述健康状况随时间的变化。
本文旨在定义健康轨迹的概念；评论健康轨迹研究对护理科学和实践的有用性和现状；并确定和说明健康轨迹研究的理论、设计和统计模型的关键要素。
总结理论中关于个体变化的概念，将其与纵向设计和变化的统计模型的特征相结合，并根据当前和新出现的医疗保健重点以及护理研究的趋势进行讨论。
健康轨迹研究以个体为中心，与护理实践的以患者为中心的重点相一致。当护理理论中明确了随时间的变化，使用纵向设计，并将用于健康状况变化的现代统计方法纳入研究计划时，护理科学对改善健康的整体努力的贡献将得到增强。
