The longitudinal relationship between satisfaction with transitional care and quality of life in chronically ill adolescents

Absttract

Objective: This study aimed to identify the relationship between satisfaction with transitional care and quality of life of chronically ill adolescents over time. Methods.: This longitudinal study included adolescents with type 1 diabetes, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and neuromuscular disorders (NMD). At baseline 138 respondents (response rate 31%) filled in a questionnaire and 188 about one year later (response rate 43%). Results: Analysis of variance showed that adolescents with diabetes reported the highest physical quality of life, followed in order by those with NMD and JIA (p ≤ 0.01). Adolescents with diabetes reported the highest social quality of life, followed in order by those with JIA and NMD (both at p ≤ 0.001). Univariate analyses showed that satisfaction with transitional care at T0 was significantly related to emotional and physical quality of life at T1 (both at p ≤ 0.05). At T1, satisfaction with transitional care was significantly related to the emotional, physical, and social domains of quality of life (all at p ≤ 0.001). Multiple regression analyses revealed that satisfaction with transitional care at T1 was related to emotional (ß = -0.20, p ≤ 0.05) and social (ß = -0.35, p ≤ 0.01) quality of life domains over time. This indicates that lower gap scores, which measured differences between 'best care' and 'current care', are associated with better social and emotional quality of life in this sample of adolescents. Conclusions: Satisfaction with transitional care and social and emotional quality of life are related over time.