A systematic review of the psychometric properties of transition readiness assessment tools in adolescents with chronic disease

Background: Health care transition of adolescents with chronic conditions may be unsuccessful when patients have not acquired the necessary skills and developmental milestones. It is therefore critical for health care providers to assess the readiness for transition of their adolescent patients. This is currently hindered by the lack of a recognised, well-established transition-readiness assessment tool. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of all transition-readiness tools for adolescents with chronic medical conditions published in peer-reviewed journals. Tools were rated by the methodological quality of the validation studies, and the psychometric measurement qualities of each tool. Results: Ten different assessment tools were identified. Seven targeted specific diseases and 3 tools were generic. Most tools were poorly validated with only one tool, the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ) demonstrating adequate content validity, construct validity, and internal consistency. Conclusion: The TRAQ was the best-validated transition-readiness tool, with additional benefits of disease-neutrality. Further research should focus on testing the predictive validity of this tool, and exploring correlation with transition-outcomes, in an international population.