Mentorship for Youth With Chronic Neurological Conditions in the Digital Era: An Innovative Approach to Supporting Transition

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This article aims to highlight the impact of mentorship on the lives of youth with chronic conditions (YCC). Here, we focus on the concepts of mentoring and technology as a means to support transitioning YCC. This is in response to the urgent need for effective healthcare transition strategies and the increasing importance and prevalence of technology in healthcare and health systems. This article also highlights an e-mentoring program for youth with epilepsy, an intervention that bridges the fields of mentoring, transition, and technology. While there is need for further research in these areas, consideration of these factors are highly relevant to the effort to improve health for this generation of YCC.

Section snippets

Top Reasons to Consider a Mentorship Program for Transition-Age Youth with Chronic Conditions

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    Transition preparation takes time. Mentors can support the provider in carrying out transition tasks outside of clinic visits at times that are convenient to the youth.

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    Mentors can assist youth in completing transition readiness assessments and identifying goals.

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    Mentors can educate youth with chronic condition (YCC) about their illness, self-management strategies, and life hacks

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    Mentors can practice with YCC the steps in navigating the healthcare system such as calling for prescriptions,

Conclusion

Youth with chronic conditions face a number of barriers in transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. Advocates of YCC should consider mentoring with the aid of technology as a promising approach to improving transition readiness, easing the adolescent's psychosocial burden of living with a chronic illness, and improving YCC health-related outcomes. Researchers across the board have stressed the need for further investigation of these subjects, and the need for evidence about the mechanisms

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