The Ignition Study: Improving transition to adult health services for people with cerebral palsy

The Ignition study wanted to find out about the experience of transition from child to adult health services for young people with cerebral palsy in Ireland. Transition is the planned process of moving from child to adult services.

Objectives

The objectives of the Ignition study were to:

1.

Examine how transition was managed for young people with cerebral palsy in Ireland.

2.

Explore the experience of transition from the perspective of young people, parents and health professionals including their views on how to improve the process.

3.

Produce resources that make it easier for young people with cerebral palsy to move from child to adult health services.

What we did

  • Young people, parents and health professionals completed two surveys to understand how transition was managed for young people with cerebral palsy.
  • Young people, parents and health professionals took part in an interview with a researcher to share their views about transition and how it could be improved.
  • A group of young adults with cerebral palsy and parents used findings to identify and develop resources to support people with cerebral palsy to move to adult health services.

You can find out more about what we did in the video below.

The team

The research team was:

  • Dr. Jennifer Ryan, Dr. Jennifer Fortune and Dr. Aisling Walsh from RCSI
  • Professor Thilo Kroll from University College Dublin
  • Dr Meriel Norris from Brunel University London
  • Dr Owen Hensey and Mary Owens from the Central Remedial Clinic
  • Dr. Claire Kerr from Queen’s University Belfast
  • Michael Walsh and Dr Michael Byrne from the HSE

 

The Ignition study was funded by an Applied Partnership Award from the Health Research Board with co-funding from the Central Remedial Clinic.