Introduction: Adolescent thoracic transplant recipients are at increased risk of psychological distress, social isolation, impaired social functioning, cognitive difficulties and behavioural problems compared to healthy peers. The presence of psychosocial challenges during adolescence is particularly concerning as it is a unique period for the development of one’s sense of self, identity and independence, coinciding with transition to adult care settings. The iPeer2Peer program is an online peer mentorship program that provides modelling and reinforcement from trained young adult mentors to adolescent mentees. Our study aims to explore the experiences and perspectives of adolescent peer mentees participating in the iPeer2Peer program within thoracic transplantation.
Methods: The iPeer2Peer program in thoracic transplantation is being piloted by two sites in Canada: The Hospital for Sick Children and Stollery Children’s Hospital. Trained peer mentors (18-25 years; successfully managing their transplant) are matched one-on-one with peer mentees (12-17 years; received a transplant). Mentor-mentee pairings connect over 15 weeks through video calls and text messaging to provide peer support and encourage disease self-management skills. Qualitative data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with peer mentees following the program. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and subject to content and thematic analysis.
Results: Mentee participants included 14 heart and 2 lung transplant recipients (median age 15 years, range 12-17 years) with diverse gender and ethnic backgrounds. Three themes emerged: (1) Pre-program: excitement and hesitation towards meeting a peer who has also undergone transplantation, (2) During program: sharing stories and receiving reassurance and information through peer-to-peer mentorship, and (3) Post-program: increased self-confidence and disease self-management nurtured by a peer mentor. Mentee participants reported high satisfaction and engagement with the iPeer2Peer program. All mentees reported that they would recommend the program to other adolescent thoracic transplant recipients: "It definitely helped me. I feel like if they had any troubles, it would definitely help them as well. And maybe might give them some more comfort in their situation."
Conclusion: Our study supports the iPeer2Peer program as a promising intervention to encourage confidence and disease self-management for adolescent thoracic transplant recipients. Next steps involve conducting interviews with peer mentors to capture their experiences and perspectives participating in the program. Findings lay the groundwork for a future multi-centre randomized controlled trial evaluating the iPeer2Peer program across solid organ transplant clinical populations.