Project 465981

Adolescents with epilepsy experience a significant disruption in care when transitioning from pediatric to adult care; a disruption associated with decreased health outcomes, mental health, and quality of life (QoL). To address this, the Children's Hospital of Eastern of Ontario (CHEO) developed a long-term epilepsy transition clinic to help educate and prepare adolescents for transition. This clinic includes ongoing mental health assessment to ensure that mental health symptoms are addressed in a timely and efficient manner. The primary objective of this study is to determine whether the CHEO long-term transition clinic is effective in increasing transition readiness, health outcomes, mental health, and QoL in participants. In addition, we will determine whether the transition clinic is effective for all adolescents; when considering variables such as sex, gender, and ethnicity. Finally, we will determine whether the CHEO long-term transition clinic results in better outcomes when compared to shorter-term clinics at CHEO and London Health Sciences Centre. At CHEO, adolescents with epilepsy will be recruited between the ages of 14 and 18. At each visit, in addition to transition information, patients will be given mental health, QoL, demographic and health, and transition readiness questionnaires. In London, participants will be recruited at their transition clinic visit at age 17 or 18, and will be asked to fill out the same questionnaires. Additionally, all participants will be e-mailed the questionnaires 6-, 12-, and 24-months post-transition. Analyses will be run to determine the effectiveness of the CHEO long-term transition clinic. Comparative analyses will be run to determine if the transition clinic is equally effective for all patients, and whether the long-term clinic results in improved outcomes when compared to the shorter-term clinics. The results of this project will inform the development and improvement of transition clinics in centres across Canada.