Young Adults with Paediatric-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Evaluating the Feasibility of an Optimal Health Wellbeing Intervention, After Transfer to Adult Health Services

The Optimal Health Program for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (OHP-IBD) The OHP-IBD is a person-centred psychosocial intervention program which uses collaborative therapy counselling techniques to address illness self-management and enhance participant capabilities in managing their own health to improve psychological, physical and general wellbeing. The program consists of 6 one-on-one sessions: 5 x 1-hour individual sessions and another 1-hour 'booster' session at 3 months after program completion. These sessions will be conducted at regular intervals, either weekly or fortnightly, depending on each participant’s preferences. Between-session coaching is available, if requested by participants. The program will be delivered using video conferencing technology. In summary, session 1 will introduce participants to the Health Plans and the 6 Health Domains: physical, emotional, social, occupational, intellectual and values/spiritual. Health Plan 1 addresses daily self-care strategies. Health Plans 2 and 3 focus on managing symptoms and escalating disease activity, respectively. In session 2, participants will identify their strengths, vulnerabilities and stressors, which will be used to develop Health Plans 1 and 2. Session 3 will focus on medication-related experiences, side effects and effective use of medication. They will also cover the need for medical and social support, which will be incorporated into Health Plan 3. Session 4 will explore how understanding past health events can create proactive avenues for change. Goal setting, creative problem solving and planning around the challenges of living with IBD will also be introduced. In session 5, program learnings and Health Plans will be reviewed and updated. Well-being maintenance will also be discussed. The ‘booster session’ will be delivered 3 months later, where the Health Plans will be reviewed, updated, and achievements acknowledged. The modular format of the program allows for cumulated learning, where each session builds on the previous one and includes optional between-session tasks such as practicing some of the self-care strategies participants developed during the sessions. Participants will receive ‘The OHP Wellbeing Open Program’ workbook, which has been specifically designed for this program as an information guide, that can be also be used for journaling program learnings. Facilitator Training and Fidelity The facilitator will be recruited from a professional counselling agency specialising in the delivery of the OHP intervention. The same facilitator will work with all the participants, to ensure consistent program delivery. The facilitator will complete a 2-day OHP facilitator training workshop and also attend a 3-hour IBD specific training workshop guided by the ‘The OHP-IBD Facilitator Pack’, in the month prior to program commencement. This Pack consists of two comprehensive supplements that were developed by the primary researcher. The first is an IBD information manual and the second is a facilitator guidebook which includes recommendations on the various IBD-related issues that facilitators could explore with participants during each program session. This Pack will be introduced to the facilitators during the IBD training workshop, however, it can also be used as a self-guided resource which can be referred to throughout program duration. Additional fortnightly online training, in the form of 4 x 1-hour informal tutorial sessions with facilitator’s supervisor and the primary researcher will also be provided, to enhance the facilitator’s understanding of the complexities of participants’ illness experiences and to ensure that IBD-specific issues are adequately addressed. Ongoing weekly supervision and session summaries will be used to monitor participants’ attendance, their progress and ensure program fidelity.