Evaluating Transition Readiness: Is Self-Report Valid as the Gold Standard?

Area of Science:

• Pediatric gastroenterology
• Chronic disease management
• Healthcare transition

Background:

• Assessing transitional readiness is crucial for adolescents and young adults with chronic diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
• The transition checklist (TC) is currently used, but its clinical validity is questioned.
• Adolescents and Young Adults with IBD (AYA IBD) require effective tools for healthcare transition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity of the transition checklist (TC) in assessing transitional readiness among AYA IBD.
• To compare the TC's effectiveness with a skills-based practicum (TKSP).

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study was conducted on a real-world clinical cohort of AYA IBD.
• The concordance between the TC and a skills-based practicum (TKSP) was assessed.
• Matthews correlation coefficients and confusion matrices were used for analysis.

Main Results:

• Concordance between self-reported TC answers and TKSP performance varied significantly across different skills.
• Mastery of medical condition knowledge showed higher concordance (81.3%) than medication knowledge (39.2%) and refill skills (29.3%).
• Matthews correlation coefficients indicated performance closer to random prediction than perfect correlation for all tested skills.

Conclusions:

• Self-reported TC answers demonstrate insufficient concordance with actual performance on a skills-based practicum.
• A skills-based practicum (TKSP) is recommended for a more accurate assessment of transition readiness in AYA IBD.
• TKSP can effectively identify individual patient needs during the healthcare transition process.