Programmes to support paediatric to adult healthcare transitions for youth with complex care needs and their families: A scoping review.
Shelley Doucet, Jennifer Splane, Alison Luke and 10 others
PMID 35170064WHAT IT FOUND
47 articles described programmes supporting paediatric-to-adult transition for youth with complex care needs, mostly without evaluation.
Coordinators, early planning, family involvement and digital tools were common, but evidence of benefit was limited.
Key findings
01The review included 47 articles, 36 of which were empirical studies or protocols and 11 descriptive articles.
02Most article objectives focused on describing a transition programme, and only 16 studies explicitly identified study outcomes.
03Having access to a transition-focused position was key to well-developed programmes, and this role was typically filled by a nurse; lack of such a position was reported as a barrier.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was a scoping review, so it did not appraise study quality or estimate whether programmes improved health outcomes. Most included articles described programmes rather than evaluated them, and only 16 studies explicitly identified study outcomes. Grey literature was not searched, so unpublished programme descriptions may be missing. The search may not have captured all relevant complex care conditions because the term covers a wide range. Programme components, settings, outcomes and team roles varied widely, so the review cannot separate the contribution of any single component. The review listed occupational, physical and speech therapists in teams, but it did not report discipline-specific outcomes.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding sources or author conflict-of-interest declarations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that transition programmes improve health outcomes. Most included articles described programmes, and many did not report patient-level outcomes or evaluations.