Objective. To understand the evidence base for care interventions, implementation strategies, and between-provider communication tools among children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN) transitioning from pediatric to adult medical care services. Data sources. We searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, the Cochrane Central trials (CENTRAL) registry, and CINAHL to identify studies through September 10, 2021. We conducted grey literature searches to identify additional resources relevant to contextual questions. Review methods. Using a mixed-studies review approach, we searched for interventions or implementation strategies for transitioning CSHCN from pediatric to adult services. Two investigators screened abstracts and full-text articles of identified references for eligibility. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental observational studies, and mixed-method studies of CSHCN, their families, caregivers, or healthcare providers. We extracted basic study information from all eligible studies and grouped interventions into categories based on disease conditions. We summarized basic study characteristics for included studies and outcomes for studies assessed as low to medium risk of bias using RoB-2. Results. We identified 9,549 unique references, 440 of which represented empirical research; of these, 154 (16 major disease categories) described or examined a care transition intervention with enough detail to potentially be eligible for inclusion in any of the Key Questions. Of these, 96 studies met comparator criteria to undergo risk of bias assessment; however only 9 studies were assessed as low or medium risk of bias and included in our analytic set. Low-strength evidence shows transition clinics may not improve hemoglobin A1C levels either at 12 or 24 months in youth with type 1 diabetes mellitus compared with youth who received usual care. For all other interventions and outcomes, the evidence was insufficient to draw meaningful conclusions because the uncertainty of evidence was too high. Some approaches to addressing barriers include dedicating time and resources to support transition planning, developing a workforce trained to care for the needs of this population, and creating structured processes and tools to facilitate the transition process. No globally accepted definition for effective transition of care from pediatric to adult services for CSHCN exists; definitions are often drawn from principles for transitions, encompassing a broad set of clinical aspects and other factors that influence care outcomes or promote continuity of care. There is also no single measure or set of measures consistently used to evaluate effectiveness of transitions of care. The literature identifies a limited number of available training and other implementation strategies focused on specific clinical specialties in targeted settings. No eligible studies measured the effectiveness of providing linguistically and culturally competent healthcare for CSHCN. Identified transition care training, and care interventions to
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.