Transition to adulthood: shifting roles between young people with chronic conditions and their parents

This chapter is concerned with the important, but often overlooked, role of parents and carers in the transition of young people with chronic conditions. It examines past and current thinking about parental involvement, drawing on research and literature. The evidence suggests that parenting has often been problematized in transitional care — with parents labelled as over-involved and barriers to young people’s independence and self-management. Drawing on more recent and wider bodies of literature, we examine why parents are better viewed as crucial assets and show how they are instrumental in promoting young people’s health, wellbeing and transition readiness. We also explain why traditional models of transitional care have failed to capitalise on this parenting capacity and leave many families with unmet needs. The chapter concludes by discussing why a strengths-based approach may be more successful in helping parents and young people to realign their roles in transition and how this might improve outcomes. We also highlight a number of ways to foster positive relationships with parents in transitional care settings and challenge the prevailing view that young people are expected to manage their condition independently.