Utilizing A Peer Patient Advocate To Develop Sickle Cell Transition Educational Materials

Background: Peer patient advocates, also called peer advocates or peer supporters have the same chronic illness as the patients that they aid to manage their health care (MacLellan, 2017). Our team developed an interactive group educational program that aimed to prepare and guide adolescents and emerging adults (AEAs) with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) as they transition from pediatric to adult care and included a peer patient advocate as a co-facilitator of the program. Here we describe a peer advocate led process to develop an educational booklet equipped with visual aids, tables, and pertinent definitions. To our knowledge, this is a novel use of a peer patient advocate as it has not been seen in the literature before.