National conference on Swedish transitional care for young people with long-term conditions in the transition to adulthood and adult healthcare

The planned national conference aims to improve care for young people with long-term conditions as they transition from pediatric to adult healthcare.

Medical advances have increased the survival of children with chronic conditions, necessitating specialized care throughout their lives.

The transition to adulthood is a vulnerable period where young people move from being dependent children to independent adults, requiring tailored and youth-friendly healthcare.Internationally and nationally, various transition programs have been developed to facilitate this process for young people with conditions such as type 1 diabetes, congenital heart defects, and childhood cancer survivors.

These programs have shown positive effects on self-care ability, knowledge of the condition, confidence in one´s ability, disease-related stress, transition readiness, care continuity, and satisfaction with care. Despite evidence of positive effects, transition programs are rarely implemented in clinical practice.

Previous studies have often excluded young people with developmental and neuropsychiatric conditions, making it difficult to generalize the results to real clinical settings.

Patient organizations and professional associations are calling for more person-centered care and improved continuity during the transition.

The conference "Growing up is hard enough" aims to take a comprehensive approach to Swedish transitional care and improve conditions for young people with long-term conditions as they transition to adulthood and adult healthcare.

The conference will be held on May 8-9, 2025, in Gothenburg and the target group is healthcare professionals, researchers, policymakers, and interest organizations.