Development and validation of the HIV adolescent readiness for transition scale (HARTS) in South Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Adolescents living with perinatally acquired HIV have low rates of retention in care and viral suppression after the transition from paediatric to adult care. In this study, we developed and validated a tool to identify adolescent transition readiness.

Methods

We developed the HIV Adolescent Readiness for Transition Scale (HARTS) from June 2016 to May 2019 by iteratively adapting existing transition readiness scales for other chronic illnesses by conducting focus groups with 11 healthcare providers and 20 adolescents in South Africa. We administered a preliminary questionnaire to 131 adolescents to determine psychometric properties and assess test-retest variability. We used confirmatory factor analysis to verify the proposed scale structure using the underlying

SUBMITTER: Zanoni BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8264413 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature