Good practices that address continuity during transition from child to adult care: synthesis of the evidence

Background Effective transition to adult services is required by an increasing number of children with ongoing needs. Aim To identify practices that promote continuity at transition between child and adult services. Methods Systematic examination of the evidence from two search strategies yielding 5319 items. Results Only three of the 126 appraised items had strong external validity. A large range of different practices, which focused on the service, the young person and the family, were identified. Practices within the service addressed structural, process and outcome components. Conclusion Four transition models are proposed for testing.