Abstract
Objective
To explore gender and sex differences in experiences of transitioning to adult health
care among young adults with acquired brain injury (ABI) who take part in a coordinated
model of transitional care.
Design
Descriptive design using in-depth semistructured qualitative interviews.
Setting
Interviews over the phone and in person.
Participants
Participants (N=18) included 10 young adults with a diagnosis of ABI (4 women, 6 men;
age range, 19–21y) and 9 parents (8 women, 1 man) from the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario,
Canada.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measure
Semistructured interviews with participants.
Results
Our findings highlight several commonalities and differences relative to sex and gender
among young adults with ABI who are transitioning from pediatric to adult care. Both
young adult men and women experienced a similar transition process and similar organization,
continuity, and availability of care. Sex differences were found in relational factors
(eg, communication, family involvement, social support). Young adult men, and parents
of the men, differed in their transition regarding relational factors (eg, communication,
family involvement).
Conclusions
Our findings show that young adult men and women with ABI who have taken part in a
transition preparation program experience similarities in organization, continuity,
and availability of care, but they experience differences in relational factors (eg,
communication, family involvement).
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
ABI (acquired brain injury)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: February 04, 2015
Footnotes
Supported by the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CGW-126580).
Clinical Trial Registration No.: NCT00975338.
Publication of this article was supported by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
