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Although field education is considered the signature pedagogy of social work education, there is a paucity of research examining how Bachelors of Social Work (BSW) and foundation year-Masters of Social Work (FY-MSW) students perceive strategies designed to prepare them for field placement. To enhance readiness for practicum, an interactive role play activity was introduced to BSW and FY-MSW students, and their perspectives of the activity were elicited using focus groups. A thematic analysis of the transcripts resulted in five themes: enhanced perspective-taking, "we have a voice", reflections on supervisory relationship, pressure to excel in student role, and opportunity to practice in a safe space. The findings provide guidance for implementing pre-practicum activities appropriate to students' level of education and training.

Digital storytelling has been applied in research in varied contexts and with varied purposes. Implicit in the process of digital storytelling is the potential to develop and/or enhance a range of individual skills (e.g., multimedia, literacy, communication, etc.). However, further research is needed to gain a deeper understanding of the potential impact of digital storytelling on skill enhancement for disabled youth. This paper provides an overview of Phase 1 of the study "My life. My story: The Youth Digital Storytelling Project" that utilized elements of a community-based participatory action research approach to host a peer-facilitated digital storytelling workshop for young adults with developmental disabilities aimed at capturing and sharing their lived experiences with, knowledge of, and perspectives on significant life-stage transitions in the areas of education, employment, or living. The results from the pre- and post-workshop questionnaires suggest that the participants improved skills in media literacy, communication, and leadership. Additionally, the participants highlighted the importance of considering the delivery format, fostering connections, and enhancing self-confidence in the development of the workshop's design and delivery. This research adds to the extant literature demonstrating the potential of digital storytelling as a pedagogical tool, offering implications for the design and implementation of online workshops for disabled youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to 57% of adolescents and young adults (AYA) with chronic physical health conditions experience mental health conditions, the presence of which contributes to increased morbidity and poor quality of life. AYA with co-occurring physical and mental health conditions, therefore, may experience additional challenges as they transition from pediatric to adult services. While transition readiness – the acquisition of self-management and advocacy skills – contributes to successful transitions to adult care, this concept has not been adequately explored for AYA with co-occurring physical and mental health conditions. Research is needed to identify whether the presence of a mental health comorbidity is associated with transition readiness, and what the experiences of AYA with co-occurring conditions are as they exit pediatric services. This paper outlines the protocol for the Readiness and Experiences of ADolescents and Young Adults with Co-occurring Physical and Mental Health Conditions Exiting Pediatric Services (READY2Exit) study; the first study to address this gap using a patient-oriented, mixed methods design.

Background: Transition readiness, or skills and preparation for navigating adult health care, is an important factor in the successful transition from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) to adult care; however, predictors of transition readiness are not fully understood. One factor which may impact transition readiness among youth accessing CAMHS is the presence of a co‐occurring physical health condition; however, this has not been previously examined. Within a cohort of youth receiving CAMHS, the objective of this study was to understand if there is an association between co‐occurring physical health conditions and transition readiness and if this relationship is impacted by severity of mental health symptoms. Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of baseline data from the Longitudinal Youth in Transition Study, including 237 16‐ to 18‐year‐old youth accessing outpatient CAMHS from four different clinical sites. Participants completed self‐report measures on mental health symptoms, functioning, service use, transition readiness, and physical health conditions. Multiple linear regression models were used to measure the association between the presence of health conditions and transition readiness scores as well as determine if there was an interaction between mental health symptoms and physical health conditions to predict transition readiness. Results: Co‐occurring physical conditions were reported by 41% of youth and were associated with greater overall transition readiness. There was no interaction between mental health symptom severity and co‐occurring physical conditions, though attention problems were independently associated with lower transition readiness scores. Conclusions: Youth accessing CAMHS who have a co‐occurring physical condition have overall greater transition readiness than youth without a co‐occurring condition. Further research should explore the role of frequency and types of healthcare encounters in transition readiness for transition age youth needing ongoing mental health care to better understand how to support self‐management and care navigation skill development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Family based treatment (FBT) has been empirically investigated in adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 years of age. Although parental control over eating symptoms and the weight gain process are temporary and necessary due to serious medical complications, FBT may be developmentally inappropriate when working with older adolescents. To date, there are no studies identifying how the principles of this model are used differentially across different stages of adolescence. This study aimed to identify how clinicians informed by FBT employ this model with transition age youth (TAY) (16-21) with an eating disorder. METHODS: Using content analysis, seven individual interviews and six focus groups were conducted with 34 clinicians from specialized Eating Disorder Treatment programs across Ontario, Canada. RESULTS: Participants consistently reported modifying FBT to increase its developmental appropriateness with TAY in the following ways: working more collaboratively with the patient, increasing individual time spent with the patient prior to the family meeting, providing greater opportunities for the individual to practice eating without parental support and introducing relapse prevention in the latter phase of the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: In all adaptations of the model, participants in focus groups and individual interviews cited the age of the individual with the eating disorder, their level of autonomy and independence in all areas of their lives, and their pending transfer of care from paediatric to adult eating disorder programs as main factors that influenced the modification of FBT with TAY. While adaptations were made across all three phases of FBT, adherence to the model progressively declined over the course of treatment with adaptations increasing significantly in the later phases. Future research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted version of FBT with TAY.

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Background: Among youth with psychiatric disorders, the transition from child to adult mental health services is a period of vulnerability to discontinuous care and service disengagement. Regular assessment of transition readiness has been identified as a core component of transition planning, contributing to successful care transitions. The Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ) 5.0 is a 20‐item questionnaire that measures transition readiness in youth preparing to transition to adult care. Although the TRAQ has been validated and used across many health settings, it has not been validated in youth with primarily mental health concerns. The objective of this study was to validate the TRAQ for use among youth accessing mental health services. Methods: This study used the Longitudinal Youth in Transition Study baseline cohort, which consists of 237 clinically referred youth (aged 16–18 years) receiving outpatient mental health treatment. Psychometric evaluation of the TRAQ 5.0 included confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), assessment of internal consistency, testing convergent validity using the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEAS) and Difficulty in Emotional Regulation (DERS) scales, criterion validity using a question on whether the participant had talked about transition with their clinician and known‐group testing based on age. Results: The CFA indicated adequate fit of the five‐factor TRAQ structure. The overall scale (=.86) and three of the subscales demonstrated adequate internal consistency. As hypothesized, overall TRAQ scores were higher for youth who had discussed transition and those aged 18. Small correlations were found between the overall TRAQ score and measures of developmental maturity (IDEAS) and emotional awareness (DERS); however, certain subscales did not demonstrate correlation with these constructs. Conclusions: The TRAQ 5.0 appears to be valid tool to assess the transition readiness of youth in outpatient mental health services. Additional work needs determine whether findings are similar among specific mental health conditions, including substance use disorders and psychotic disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mixed methods research studies continue to pervade the field of health care, where pragmatism as a research paradigm and patient‐oriented research (POR) as an engagement strategy are combined to strengthen the process and outcomes of the research. Pragmatists use the most appropriate research methods to address issues at hand, where complex social problems need multipronged approaches. As an emerging healthcare research strategy, POR actively engages individuals with lived experience across all stages of the research process. While POR continues to garner attention within mixed‐methods research designs, there is a paucity of literature that considers POR in relation to pragmatism. Objective: As POR grows in popularity within the field of health care, there is a need to explore the theoretical and epistemological alignment with pragmatism and the implications to research. Methods: To address this need, we provide a critical review of the literature to examine the synergies between POR and pragmatism, and argue for the adoption of pragmatism as a paradigm for conducting POR. Main Results: This article begins with a discussion of the philosophical underpinnings informing the pragmatic paradigm. It then identifies key alignments between POR and pragmatism across three intersecting concepts: democratic values, collaborative approaches to problem‐solving and the pursuit of social justice. Discussion and Conclusions: Reflecting on our experiences engaging with patient partners in a mixed‐methods POR study titled READY2Exit, we illustrate the relevance of pragmatism to POR by applying these concepts to practice. Implications and considerations for conducting POR within the pragmatic paradigm are also described. Patient or Public Contribution: This paper provides a critical review of the literature and did not directly involve patients or the public. The authors reflected on their experiences collaborating with five young adult patient partners in the READY2Exit study (case exemplar described in this article) to demonstrate the relevance of the pragmatic paradigm to POR. We acknowledge and thank the young adult patient partners for their contributions to the research, for encouraging us to think critically about patient engagement in research, and for sharing their experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Family physicians and other members of the primary health care (PHC) team may be ideally positioned to provide transition care to adolescents and young adults (AYAs; aged 12-25 years) exiting pediatric specialty services. Potential solutions to well-known challenges associated with integrating PHC and specialty care need to be explored.Objective: To identify strategies to transition care by PHC professionals for AYAs with chronic conditions transitioning from pediatric to adult-oriented care.Methods: Participants were recruited from six Primary Care Networks in Calgary, Alberta. A total of 18 semi-structured individual interviews were completed, and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using a qualitative description approach, involving thematic analysis.Results: Participants offered a range of strategies for supporting AYAs with chronic conditions. Our analysis resulted in three overarching themes: (i) educating AYAs, families, and providers about the critical role of primary care; (ii) adapting existing primary care supports for AYAs and (iii) designing new tools or primary care practices for transition care.Conclusions: Ongoing and continuous primary care is important for AYAs involved with specialty pediatric services. Participants highlighted a need to educate AYAs, families and providers about the critical role of PHC. Solutions to improve collaboration between PHC and pediatric specialist providers would benefit from additional perspectives from providers, AYAs and families. These findings will inform the development of a primary care-based intervention to improve transitional care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in reduced access to in-person mental health services, and a shift to virtual platforms. Youth may be uniquely impacted by physical distancing requirements during the pandemic, including limited socialization opportunities, closures of educational institutions, a lack of meaningful extracurricular activities and adverse implications on key developmental milestones. Due to the potential impact of COVID-19 on youth well-being, the need to rapidly transform services to be accessible, and the potential risks associated with this rapid transformation, it is imperative that youth continue to be engaged in research and service development. Young people's perspectives, strengths and skills need to be considered to effectively adapt the delivery of mental health services. Continuing to center youth engagement in mental health research throughout the pandemic can ensure research questions, programs, and services align with the needs and preferences of youth. In this commentary, we pose three recommendations for conducting youth-engaged mental health research during the pandemic, including adapting youth engagement strategies when rapid decisions must be made, the use of tools for virtual engagement, and suggestions for evaluating youth engagement practices. These strategies and principles may be applicable to other scenarios where rapid research or system transformation would benefit from youth engagement, such as time-limited child research by trainees (e.g., dissertations) or natural disasters., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest The authors have no financial relationships to disclose., (Copyright © 2021 Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.)