Inflammatory Bowel Disease Nurses' Perspectives: Prioritizing Adolescent Transition Readiness Factors

Despite the wealth of knowledge and expertise that Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) nurses bring to the transition process, health literature lacks nurses' perspectives on transition readiness. The purpose of study was to ask IBD nurses to prioritize care transition readiness factors for adolescents living with IBD.

The cross-sectional exploratory survey was researcher-developed and distributed online to IBD nurses across Canada. The survey was divided into nine transition topic categories.

Fifty-six female registered nurses from six Canadian provinces participated in the study. Overall, nurses rated all items within each transition topic category to be very important in facilitating adolescent transition to adult healthcare. The highest individual mean scores and the highest prioritized categories were within the Knowing IBD and Healthcare Provider Relationships categories, emphasizing the importance for adolescents to understand their disease and feel comfortable communicating their needs and questions to healthcare providers.

The transition process needs to be individualized and comprehensive addressing a multitude of biopsychosocial factors in order to support IBD patients and families to achieve healthy adult self-care behaviours that can foster positive health outcomes.

Healthcare providers, adolescents, and parents must work collaboratively to achieve identified transition goals so that the transition process is a mutually satisfying experience. A comprehensive readiness assessment tool is suggested to assist in the transition process. Transition readiness assessment must start early, be ongoing, be age-appropriate, and be individualized to the patient needs.