Aims. This study aimed to elucidate the illness representations of patients with traumatic injury and to examine what extent their illness representations change over time. Background. Traumatic injury has attracted global concern because it is the major reason for death and disability in people under 45 years old. One model, the Common Sense Model of Illness Representation (CSMIR), has the potential to help individuals adjust to changes in health status such as traumatic injury. Design. Longitudinal study design. Methods. This study was conducted using a and collected data prior to hospital discharge and at three and six months after hospital discharge. One individual question form and the Chinese Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised (IPQ-R) (Trauma) were used to collect demographic data, clinical data and illness representations. Results. A total of 114 participants completed the survey three times. The overall response rate was 79緥. Six subscales of the Chinese (Trauma): identity, emotional representations, consequences, controllability, illness coherence and causes of the Chinese IPQ-R (Trauma) changed significantly over time. Two subscales, Timeline (acute/chronic) and Timeline Cyclical, did not change significantly. Conclusions. Based on these findings, there may be a window of opportunity to provide appropriate interventions to individuals with traumatic injury at each time point. The results of this study have implications for nursing practice and further nursing research. Relevance to clinical practice. Understanding illness representation in patients with traumatic injury may help nurses to provide anticipatory guidance and to design nursing interventions before and after hospital discharge, ultimately to improve health outcomes of those patients.