Date of Graduation

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Christina L Duncan

Committee Co-Chair

Maple T Landvoigt

Committee Member

Kevin T Larkin

Committee Member

Cheryl B McNeil

Committee Member

Aaron Metzger

Abstract

Life expectancy of patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) has been increasing, with most children with CF expected to live at least into middle age adult years. Consequently, the majority of patients with CF will have to transition from a pediatric to an adult clinic. Unfortunately, few transition programs exist that attend to the physical, developmental, and psychological factors of adolescents with CF who need to transfer to adult clinics. Moreover, to date, there is a dearth of quantitative research that has been conducted to assess factors that may influence readiness to transition. The purpose of this study is to examine how specific psychosocial variables, such as locus of control, parental style, anxiety, and hope are associated with readiness to transition from pediatric to adult-centered health care for CF. A sample of 60 adolescents with CF (ages 14--20 years) and their caregivers were recruited from three pediatric clinics across the United States. Adolescents and caregivers each were required to complete a packet of questionnaires. Results revealed that age is positively correlated with youth and parents` ratings of transition readiness. Additionally, as hypothesized, youth reported higher readiness scores than their parents' ratings of the youth's readiness to transition. Further, the current study found that parental vicarious hope was significantly associated with increased youth-and parent-rated readiness to transition. Consequently, when developing transition programs, it may be beneficial to include methods to increase parents` level of hope for their child. Ultimately, future research is still needed to understand the potential role that a variety of psychosocial factors may play in adolescents` readiness to move from a pediatric to adult clinic, and will be essential in the continued development of CF transition programs across the country.

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