A Research Note on Health Trajectories Data Collection Using a Biographical Approach

Since a few years, researches on the individuals' health disparities focus on the influence exercised by the social conditions throughout the life course. In fact, it is the health dynamic aspect which is more & more: related. However, the collection of a health event using a biographical approach has been rarely operated in the biographical data collections. The present note aims to present the conceptual process & the methodological approach we followed, within the framework of the implementation of a life events history survey in Belgium, in order to define a health event & integrate it into a biographical data collection. The first part of this note presents briefly the health definitions assigned to the individuals' health status. The second part focuses on the advantages & limits of the prospective longitudinal data collection & shows the interest of the biographical data collection approach. Finally, the third part is dedicated to the presentation of the innovative approach which we implemented, around the idea of the interruptions of activities, to collect a health event in a biographical process. Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.