The impact of a patient navigator on readiness assessment scores in youth transitioning to adult health care in Alberta

Description

Megan Patton and colleagues examine whether a patient navigator raises transition readiness in youth moving to adult care in a 2026 Alberta study. Young people with chronic conditions transfer from pediatric to adult services between sixteen and twenty-one, often feeling unprepared. This sub-study of a randomized trial tracked scores on a validated readiness survey in 129 participants over two years.

Readiness rose a lot in both the navigator and control groups, from baseline to twelve months and again by twenty-four months. Access to the navigator, however, made no significant difference to the trajectory; the groups started level and climbed together. The authors suggest readiness may grow mainly through lived experience of the transfer itself. Both arms also received shared transition resources throughout, which may have lifted everyone. Fifteen youth partners with personal experience of transition reflected on the findings alongside the researchers.

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Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13254931