Good practices that address continuity during transition from child to adult care: synthesis of the evidence

• Published in: Child : care, health & development health & development, 2004-09, Vol.30 (5), p.439-452
• Main Authors: While, A., Forbes, A., Ullman, R., Lewis, S., Mathes, L., Griffiths, P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Development; Adolescent Health Services - organization & administration; Adolescent Health Services - standards; Adult; Adulthood; Best practice; Care delivery; Child; Child Health; Child Health Services - organization & administration; Child Health Services - standards; Continuing care; Continuity of Patient Care - organization & administration; Continuity of Patient Care - standards; Delivery of Health Care - organization & administration; Delivery of Health Care - standards; Evidence; Family; good practice; Health Services - standards; Humans; Information Seeking; Learning Disabilities; Literature Reviews; Models, Organizational; Quality of Health Care - organization & administration; Quality of Health Care - standards; Research Design; Search Strategies; service development; Sick young people; Social Change; Social Services; Special needs young people; Systematic reviews; Transition; transitional care; Young Adults
• ISSN: 0305-1862; 1365-2214
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2004.00440.x

Background  Effective transition to adult services is required by an increasing number of children with ongoing needs. Aim  To identify practices that promote continuity at transition between child and adult services. Methods  Systematic examination of the evidence from two search strategies yielding 5319 items. Results  Only three of the 126 appraised items had strong external validity. A large range of different practices, which focused on the service, the young person and the family, were identified. Practices within the service addressed structural, process and outcome components. Conclusion  Four transition models are proposed for testing.