Supporting the Healthcare Transition From Adolescence to Adulthood for Patients Requiring Seizure Care Under California Children’s Services in Madera County, A Pilot Study at CHSU

Sun V. ^[1] ,
Vietti H. ^[1] and
Goldgraben S. ^[1]

2022

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Abstract

In California’s Central Valley, there are approximately 12,000 children living with epilepsy. Studies show that the adolescent/young adult (AYA) population benefits from transition programs and social support groups. For children under the care of California Children’s Services (CCS), there is a paucity of federally or state funded programs to offer patients these services in the form of an educational/peer support group. Efforts were aimed at establishing a new program in Madera County to address the unmet needs of Central Valley residents under the management of CCS, requiring chronic seizure care. The authors present a novel 8-week educational program to help participants recruited from CCS gain both confidence and improved knowledge of their disease management, with the goal of obtaining improvement scores of over 50%. The series of educational sessions was consolidated into 3 sessions and piloted at CHSU to participants with unknown seizure status. Confidence scores improved by over 50%, with statistical significance in all learning sessions. Performance scores for the educational content improved in 4/6 topics, with statistical significance in the topics of “Responding to a Seizure” (p<0.001), “Transitioning to Adult Care” (p<0.001), and “Social Concerns of Epilepsy” (p 0.004). Given the small size of the cohort, the results indicate at minimum anecdotal evidence in support of educational intervention. The pilot program enabled the opportunity for the authors to refine the educational content prior to implementation at Madera County Public Health. The project aims to be a longitudinal outcome study correlating successful transition into adulthood with decreased emergency room visits or decreased cost of care incurred. This is an IRB approved project, #2021-030.

In California’s Central Valley, there are approximately 12,000 children living with epilepsy. Studies show that the adolescent/young adult (AYA) population benefits from transition programs and social support groups. For children under the care of California Children’s Services (CCS), there is a paucity of federally or state funded programs to offer patients these services in the form of an educational/peer support group. Efforts were aimed at establishing a new program in Madera County to address the unmet needs of Central Valley residents under the management of CCS, requiring chronic seizure care. The authors present a novel 8-week educational program to help participants recruited from CCS gain both confidence and improved knowledge of their disease management, with the goal of obtaining improvement scores of over 50%. The series of educational sessions was consolidated into 3 sessions and piloted at CHSU to participants with unknown seizure status. Confidence scores improved by over 50%, with statistical significance in all learning sessions. Performance scores for the educational content improved in 4/6 topics, with statistical significance in the topics of “Responding to a Seizure” (p<0.001), “Transitioning to Adult Care” (p<0.001), and “Social Concerns of Epilepsy” (p 0.004). Given the small size of the cohort, the results indicate at minimum anecdotal evidence in support of educational intervention. The pilot program enabled the opportunity for the authors to refine the educational content prior to implementation at Madera County Public Health. The project aims to be a longitudinal outcome study correlating successful transition into adulthood with decreased emergency room visits or decreased cost of care incurred. This is an IRB approved project, #2021-030.

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California Health Sciences University