A Concept Development for the Symptom Science Model 2.0

The National Institute of Nursing Research developed the National Institutes of Health symptom science model (SSM) in 2015 as a parsimonious conceptual model to guide symptom science research. OBJECTIVES: This concept development paper synthesizes justifications to strengthen the original model. METHODS: A literature review was performed, discussions with symptom science content expert stakeholders were held, and opportunities for expanding the current model were identified. Concept elements for a revised conceptual model—the SSM 2.0—were developed. RESULTS: In addition to the four original concept elements (complex symptom presentation, phenotypic characterization, biobehavioral factors [previously biomarker discovery], and clinical applications), three new concept elements are proposed, including social determinants of health, patient-centered experience, and policy/population health. DISCUSSION: There have been several calls to revise the original SSM from the nursing scientific community to expand its utility to other healthcare settings. Incorporating three additional concept elements can facilitate a broader variety of translational nursing research symptom science collaborations and applications, support additional scientific domains for symptom science activities, and produce more translatable symptom science to a wider audience of nursing research scholars and stakeholders during recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The revised SSM 2.0 with newly incorporated social determinants of health, patient-centered experience, and policy/population health components now empowers nursing scientists and scholars to address specific symptom science public health challenges particularly faced by vulnerable and underserved populations.