Hammerman O¹, Bayatra A¹, Turner D², Levine A^3,4, Shamir R^4,5, Assa A^4,5, Wilschanski M⁶, Bachner YG⁷, Israeli E¹. Gastroenterol Res Pract. 2019 Jun 18;2019:5062105. doi: 10.1155/2019/5062105. eCollection 2019.

Author information

1 Institute of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, POB 12000, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.

2 Institute of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Shaarei Zedek Medical Center, 12 Shmuel Beit St., Jerusalem 9103102, Israel.

3 Unit of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Wolfson Medical Center, 62 Halochamin St., Holon/Tel Aviv 5822012, Israel.

4 Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, POB 39040, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.

5 Institute of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Nutrition, and Liver Diseases, Schneider Children's Medical Center, POB 559, Petach Tikva 4920235, Israel.

6 Unit of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, POB 12000, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.

7 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, Beer Sheva 8410501, Israel.

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To date, there are no validated measures in IBD to assess the level of preparedness for transition into adult health care. The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the reliability and validity of a "Transition Readiness" (TR) measure for adolescents with IBD, as well as to evaluate the level of TR synchronicity between adolescents themselves, their parents, and their pediatric gastroenterologists.

METHODS: A self-assessment tool was created to evaluate TR. Items were reviewed for face validation by IBD experts, and an exploratory factor analysis was performed which yielded 3 distinct domains. The study cohort included adolescents aged 12-21 yrs, their parents, and their physicians in pediatric IBD centers. Correlations between patient/parent/physician TR between each of the domains and the overall TR score to age were assessed.

RESULTS: 63 subjects (average age 16.6 yrs/79% Crohn's disease/44% male) participated in this study. There was a significant correlation between the scoring of adolescents and parents on all three domains. The correlation between adolescents and physicians, as well as between parents and physicians, was only consistent for self-efficacy. Self-efficacy significantly correlated with age, while the correlations between perceived knowledge and perception of medical care with age were not significant.

CONCLUSION: Validation of a novel TR measurement for adolescents with IBD demonstrated a good correlation between patients and parents. Out of the three proposed constructs, perceived self-efficacy is the most salient measure.