[Conception and Measurement of Health-related Transition Competence for Adolescents with Chronic Conditions - Development and Testing of a Self-Report Instrument].

Background: The importance of health-related care and self-management responsibilities has been shown in recent research. The aim of this work is the development and psychometric testing of an instrument to assess health-related transition competence.
Methods: The instrument was developed with psychometric and conceptual methods in several steps. Based on focus group and expert interviews, an item pool to assess health-related transition competence was developed. The instrument was tested and finalised in a pilot study with adolescents with chronic conditions (N=323).
Results: Three subscales "work-related preparedness" (3 items), "condition-related knowledge" (3 items) and "health-care competence" (4 items) with proper psychometric properties were identified. The subscales can be combined to a global score. Conclusions: The scales feature good psychometrics. They efficiently facilitate the standardised assessment of health-related transition competence in preparation and progress of the transition. This also enables for outcome assessment of health-care services related to transition competence (e. g., workshops). © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.