Brief Report: Preliminary Findings from a Pilot Health Care Transition Education Intervention for Adolescents and Young Adults with Special Health Care Needs

Objective To assess acceptability and feasibility of a school-based health care transition education intervention designed to equip adolescents and young adults (A/YA) who have special health care needs with important health literacy, self-advocacy, and self-determination skills. Methods A qualitative research approach was used to assess a 40-hr curriculum implemented with 137 A/YA in 13 high school special education classes. Three focus groups were conducted with 15 students and 7 educators. Participants were questioned about perceived relevance, readability, interest, ease of implementation and completeness of the curriculum. Results All focus group participants said the curriculum was highly relevant and valuable. Teachers reported little difficulty with ease of implementation, though the reading level appeared high for some students. Conclusions This intervention model shows promise for empowering A/YA with special health care needs to become more independent in managing their health care, and warrants further development and evaluation. The curriculum is available at http://health.usf.edu/medicine/pediatrics/ad_med/resources.htm.