Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jun;17(3):146-149.
doi: 10.14740/gr1724. Epub 2024 Jun 29.

The Transitioning From Pediatric to Adult Inflammatory Bowel Disease Services: A Qualitative Study of Adolescents and Their Parents

Mohamed Bakry  1 , Peta Hoffmann  2 , Rajivi Prematunga  3 , Philip Keightley  3   4 , Kavitha Subramaniam  5   6
Affiliations

The Transitioning From Pediatric to Adult Inflammatory Bowel Disease Services: A Qualitative Study of Adolescents and Their Parents

Mohamed Bakry et al. Gastroenterology Res. 2024 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often has its onset during late childhood and adolescence, a time of significant change. Young people may be required to transition from a pediatric to an adult IBD service during this time. The transition from pediatric to adult services can be a high-risk period for poor outcomes for emerging adults with IBD. We seek to understand the concerns of patients and carers during this period.

Methods: Semi-structured interview and interpretative phenomenological analysis were used to explore the experiences of 16 young persons and 10 of their parents during transition.

Results: The narrative analysis reflected the importance of three aspects of transition to the young people and their parents during transition. The process of adjusting to illness, parents letting go, and the young person "growing up" were key themes.

Conclusion: In addition to patient needs, parental grief and adjustment may be easily overlooked in the transition period: children who only recently needed intensive parental care and involvement may now be seeking higher degrees of autonomy. These findings indicate a role for including psychological interventions addressing the well-being of parents in transition programs.

Keywords: Adolescent health; Inflammatory bowel disease; Transition.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors are employees of Canberra Health Services. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare in regards to the publication of this manuscript.

References

    1. Gray WN, Resmini AR, Baker KD, Holbrook E, Morgan PJ, Ryan J, Saeed SA. et al. Concerns, Barriers, and Recommendations to Improve Transition from Pediatric to Adult IBD Care: Perspectives of Patients, Parents, and Health Professionals. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2015;21(7):1641–1651. doi: 10.1097/MIB.0000000000000419. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Goodhand J, Hedin CR, Croft NM, Lindsay JO. Adolescents with IBD: the importance of structured transition care. J Crohns Colitis. 2011;5(6):509–519. doi: 10.1016/j.crohns.2011.03.015. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Timmer A, Peplies J, Westphal M, Kaltz B, Ballauff A, Classen M, Laass MW. et al. Transition from pediatric to adult medical care - A survey in young persons with inflammatory bowel disease. PLoS One. 2017;12(5):e0177757. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177757. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sebastian S, Jenkins H, McCartney S, Ahmad T, Arnott I, Croft N, Russell R. et al. The requirements and barriers to successful transition of adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease: differing perceptions from a survey of adult and paediatric gastroenterologists. J Crohns Colitis. 2012;6(8):830–844. doi: 10.1016/j.crohns.2012.01.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Karim S, Porter JA, McCombie A, Gearry RB, Day AS. Transition clinics: an observational study of themes important to young people with inflammatory bowel disease. Transl Pediatr. 2019;8(1):83–89. doi: 10.21037/tp.2019.01.04. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources