Abstract
Objective
Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with sickle cell disease (SCD) experience high
rates of acute care utilization and increased morbidity. At this high-risk time, they
also face the need to transition from pediatric to adult services, which, if poorly
coordinated, adds to heightened morbidity and acute care utilization. The study objective
was to characterize the feasibility, acceptability, and short-term efficacy of a protocolized
transition navigator (TN) intervention in AYA with SCD.
Methods
We developed a protocolized TN intervention that used ecological assessment and motivational
interviewing to assess transition readiness, identify goals, and remove barriers to
transition, and to provide disease and pain management education and skills to AYAs
with SCD.
Results
Ninety-three percent (56/60) of enrolled individuals completed the intervention. Participation
in the TN program was associated with significant improvement in mean transition readiness
scores (3.58–4.15, P < .0001), disease knowledge scale (8.91–10.13, P < .0001), Adolescent Medication Barriers Scale (40.05–35.39, P = .003) and confidence in both disease (22.5–23.96, P = .048) and pain management (25.07–26.61, P = .003) for youth with SCD.
Conclusion
The TN intervention was acceptable to youth with SCD, feasible to implement at an
urban academic medical center, and addressed barriers to transition identified by
the youth. Longer-term assessment is needed to determine if the TN intervention improved
successful transfer to and retention in adult care.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: August 10, 2021
Accepted:
August 3,
2021
Received:
November 17,
2020
Footnotes
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 by Academic Pediatric Association
