Assessment of knowledge in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease using a novel transition tool

Background: In the transition from pediatric to adult care, patients are expected to increase their level of self-care. Knowledge of disease characteristics, medications, and resources is crucial. This study evaluated the knowledge of adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and their parents in four major domains: disease characteristics, treatments, medical history, and health services resources.

Methods: Patients age 14-18 years and their parents completed MyHealth Passport for IBD as a cross-sectional assessment of knowledge. Responses were evaluated for accuracy using medical records. The proportion of correct responses between patients/parents were compared.

Results: In all, 78 patients (age 16.2 ± 1.2 years, IBD duration 3.6 ± 2.5 years), and 64 parents participated. Patients and parents were equally likely to answer questions correctly regarding disease characteristics and treatment, but not health services resources. Most patients accurately identified IBD classification and listed medications. Neither patients nor parents accurately identified disease location or previous investigation results. Parents more likely correctly named insurance provider (odds ratio [OR] 6.33, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 2.68-15.0), and pharmacy location (OR 18.5, 95% CI 4.6-76.8). Multivariate regression revealed that patients with IBD type unclassified were more likely to be aware of their diagnostic classification (OR 17.2, 95% CI 2.81-105.4 compared with Crohn's disease patients). Older patients were less likely to recall if they had a small bowel x-ray (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.35-0.996).

Conclusions: Future educational interventions should target areas of weakness in adolescent knowledge, particularly health services resources. The MyHealth Passport for IBD (available freely online) could educate and instill independence in the transitioning adolescent.