Table 1.

Evaluated transitional care programmes in rheumatology reported in peer-reviewed journals since 2015

Reference	Programme	Country	Setting	Diseases	Age at enrolment (years)	Designated transition staff	Transition readiness assessment	Programme components	Shared care	Age of transfer	Evaluation	Results
Jensen et al. (2015) [36]	Social worker–centred paediatric rheumatology transition program	USA	Paediatric rheumatology clinic	Any RMD requiring transfer to adult rheumatology	Median 18 (15–26)	Social worker	Rheumatology-specific workbook including self-reflective questions Written transition goals reviewed at clinic visits	Face-to-face meetings with social worker at clinic visits and interim phone calls; facilitation of the adult appointment; phone call follow-up 6–8 months post transfer	No	When paediatric rheumatologists deemed appropriate	Satisfaction questionnaire Attendance at adult rheumatology clinic Compared with the control group who had not participated in the programme	81% satisfied 42% successful transition vs 23% controls (p = 0.002)
Stringer et al. (2015) [37]	Rheumatology transition clinic	Canada	Paediatric rheumatology clinic	Any RMD but majority JIA	2 years prior to completion of high school	None specific	No checklists used	3–6 combined MDT clinics per year with adult rheumatologist present	Yes	Aim to transfer when finished high school and their disease is quiescent 17–20 years	Questionnaire Follow-up rate post transfer	Overall satisfaction Variation in the adequacy of how transition issues were addressed High rate of follow-up post transfer
Walter et al. (2018) [38]	Clinical transition pathway for adolescents with juvenile-onset RMD	Netherlands	Adolescent clinic in adult rheumatology setting	RMD	12–14 years	None specific	Individualised transition plans (ITP) [33]	Clinical pathway Dedicated adolescent clinic	Yes	17–18 depending on the patient’s perceived skills, personal wishes in discussion with health professionals	Review of electronic patient records Frequency of dropout of care Use of ITPs Transfer experience: OYOF-TES [39] Self-efficacy scale OYOF-SES [40]	Reduced loss to follow-up High scores for satisfaction and self-efficacy