Decision‐making experiences of young adults with long‐term conditions

Background: Young adults with long-term conditions can struggle to accept their diagnosis and can become overwhelmed with managing their condition. Sub-optimal transfer from paediatric to adult services with a resultant disengagement with the service, can result in less involvement in care and decision-making. Shared decision-making can improve involvement in health decisions and increase satisfaction with treatment/therapy and care.

Objectives: An integrative literature review was conducted to explore and understand young adults’ experiences of decision-making in healthcare.

Design: An integrative literature review.
Data sources: CINAHL, EMCARE, PsycINFO, HMIC, EMBASE, Web of Science, PubMed, MEDLINE, EBSCOHOST and COCHRANE databases were searched for relevant literature published between January1999 to January 2020.

Findings: Thirteen primary research papers met the inclusion criteria. Four main themes were identified: (1) Information delivery and communication; (2) Participation in decision-making; (3) Social factors influencing decision-making; and (4) Emotional impact of decision-making.

Conclusions: Young adults with long-term conditions have specific decision-making needs which can impact on their emotional health. Research with a specific focus on young adults’ experiences of decision-making in healthcare is needed.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ofori-Ansah, S. et al (2021) Decision-making experiences of young adults with long-term conditions, Journal of Renal Care, which will be published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jorc.12367 . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.