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1039 Improving paediatric sickle cell disease patients’ transition via enhanced health literacy using an adolescent-guided bespoke animated video intervention

Background Transition from paediatric to adult healthcare in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) is widely acknowledged as a high-risk period with increased use of emergency services as well as higher morbidity and mortality. Consequently, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have confounded transitional processes via the subsequent disruption of healthcare practices which includes redeployment of specialist nurses, reduction in clinics and complicated waiting processes due to social distancing. One influencing factor determining the success of transition is health literacy. This is recognised as the ability of individuals to obtain, process and apply information to promote and maintain good health. Disease specific knowledge is an integral part of health literacy and contributes to empowerment of individuals with regard to their condition. It is particularly pertinent during the COVID-19 era for historically disadvantaged patients with SCD, where heightened anxiety and healthcare disruption can both contribute to diminishing that empowerment. Objectives This project centred on ameliorating health literacy in 14-15-year-olds with SCD, by improving their knowledge of the aetiology, pathophysiology and complications of their condition along with the transition process, resources and contacts available to them. Congruent to their learning, the patients were also motivated to develop their self-management of SCD. Methods Utilising an interventional pre- and post-methodology, this convenience sample was surveyed prior to and after watching a researcher-developed, age-appropriate SCD educational video, constructed via web-based animation software. The survey questioned participants to rate their confidence in the knowledge of a variety of SCD and transition-based topics between 1-5 using a Likert scale, where 1 = very confident and 5 = not confident at all. The survey also contained gender specific questions relating to sexual health complications of SCD, including understanding priapism and dysmenorrhea. Inclusion criteria comprised a participant age of 14-15 and a diagnosis of SCD. Results Findings from the pre-intervention survey indicated that 47.8% of Likert scale selections were 'very confident' and 'confident' and the post-intervention survey indicated that 84.6% were 'very confident' and 'confident', representing a 36.8% proportional increase in participant confidence of SCD knowledge and transitional competence. Survey findings also yielded a 90% proportional increase of boys and an 80% proportional increase of girls selecting 'very confident' and 'confident' on the respective gender specific questions, between preand post-intervention surveys. Conclusions The correlation between health literacy and prognosis in paediatric populations with long term conditions, most notably SCD, is just beginning to surface. These results are promising indications that the interventional video holds substantial educational value for SCD transitional patients. Further research should include enhancing the video's quality to cater for different adolescent age groups whilst expanding the geographical recruitment and thus, sample size. The social restrictions of COVID-19 have engendered innovative and adaptive healthcare delivery to patients and this study's educational video contributes to that catalogue of creativity. Like health literacy, the effects of the pandemic on SCD are yet to be fully understood and with optimism, this study will encourage further research in improving SCD transition.