Adolescents with chronic illness and the transition to self-management: A systematic review

Chronic illness effects one in ten adolescents worldwide. Adolescence involves a desire for autonomy from parental control and the necessity to transition care from parent to child. This review investigates the transition to adolescent self-management of chronic illness treatment behaviors in the context of parent-adolescent relationships.

A systematic search of PubMed, CINAHL, and Web of Science was conducted from earliest database records to early June 2017. Articles were included if they focused on adolescents, addressed illness self-management, discussed the parent-adolescent relationship, and were published in English. Articles were excluded if the chronic illness was a mental health condition, included children younger than 10 years of age, or lacked peer review.

Nine studies met inclusion criteria. Outcomes included challenges to adolescent self-management, nature of the parent-adolescent relationship, illness representation, perceptions of adolescent self-efficacy in compliance, medical decision making, laboratory measures, and adolescent self-management competence. Across diagnoses, parents who were available to monitor, be a resource, collaborate with their adolescent, and engage in ongoing dialogue were key in the successful transition to autonomous illness management.

There is a paucity of research addressing the experiences of adolescents in becoming experts in their own care.