Facilitating transitions to adult healthcare for youth with disabilities: resources for occupational therapy practitioners

Abstract

Healthcare transition is the transfer from pediatric to adult health services and the development of related functional competencies (Sharma, O’Hare, Antonelli, & Sawici, 2014), including self-management, health self-advocacy, and health IADL performance. An estimated 4.5 million youth aged 12-18 have special healthcare needs, a number that has grown over time (McManus et al., 2013). As this mounting population enters adulthood, healthcare transition has become a topic of increasingly intense attention and research among health providers, policymakers, and disability advocacy groups (Betz, O'Kane, Nehring, & Lobo, 2016; McManus et al., 2013). However, many youth with disabilities do not successfully transition to adult healthcare settings or assume responsibility for adult health activities (Betz et al., 2016; McManus et al., 2013). There is a need for professionals to support and train youth to successfully transition to adult healthcare and to foster their abilities to manage their health and achieve positive health and participation outcomes. Occupational therapists (OT) have the opportunity to facilitate improved healthcare transitions and support youth through other contexts of transition to adulthood that mutually influence healthcare transition, including post-secondary education, vocations, independent living, and adult-oriented community and social activities (Ferris, Ferris, Okumura, Cohen, & Hooper, 2015). Facilitating Transitions to Adult Healthcare for Youth with Disabilities: Resources for OT Practitioners is a theory-driven and evidence-based continuing education program for OT practitioners. The course introduces a socio-ecological model to analyze the interrelated factors that influence healthcare transition and participation outcomes, and reviews current multidisciplinary research on healthcare transition interventions. The course aims to increase learners’ healthcare transition knowledge, increase learners’ self-efficacy in meeting the needs of this population, and in the long term, increase the OT profession’s participation in healthcare transition activities.