It is widely acknowledged that a team approach is preferred practice and contributes to optimizing the surgical, dental, speech and psychosocial outcomes for individuals with cleft lip and palate (CLP).Young adulthood often marks the transition from child-centered interdisciplinary care to adult-centered care. There is a paucity in literature relating to the transition of care for young adults with CLP. The purpose of this survey research is therefore to explore the CLP team practices regarding young adults with CLP. An exploratory, descriptive design with quantitative analysis was used to explore what services are provided by CLP teams to young adults with CLP. An exploratory design was deemed appropriate due tolimited research available on the provision of team services for young adults with CLP. An online survey was used as the method of data collection to determine the number of teams providing services to this population, the types of services provided, and the perceived needs of young adults receiving CLP team services. 71 participants of (18.4%) responded to the survey. The low response rate is typical of survey research, despite three invitations to participate. However, the topic elicited global responses, from North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, which is indicative of the importance of transition of care for young adults with CLP. 46 Participants responded to the question regarding their perceived needs of young adults with CLP. It appears that the characteristics of young adults with CLP (i.e., appearance, self-acceptance, social attitudes, social experiences, employment, starting a family, hearing and speech) are perceived to occur universally and that concerns about appearance is most frequent, followed by speech were important needs recognized by the teams. 56% of teams that responded to that they discharge young adults between 18-22 years, which confirms the expected results. However, an unexpected finding is that 37% of team’s complete treatment or never discharge patients. 35.5% of the respondents described the services provided, which existed of plastic and reconstructive surgery (98%), oral and maxilla facial surgery (86%), orthodontics (90%) and speech therapy (78%) with 50% indicating that they also provided other services. This confirms the perceptions of the needs of young adults with CLP since the high frequency of surgery and orthodontics address the concerns regarding appearance and speech therapy addresses the frequently perceived concern regarding speech. Continued team care is crucial for young adults with CLP to address their adult needs and improve their QoL.The results from this survey research will increase awareness of the importance of the transition from child to adult team care. Recommendations for further research will be discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-1023 |
| Date | 05 April 2018 |
| Creators | Nowicki, Blake A., McDowell, Andie, Murr, Amanda, Staples, Alexandria, Widy, Sarah, Reed, Elisha, Vyda, Sanjana, Bisceglia, Andrea, Bradley, Emily, Louw, Brenda |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
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