{
  "abstract": "The Beads of Life is informed by narrative principles, using beads to represent different aspects of an individual’s life. It was initially developed for children and young people with cancer as a way of making sense of their cancer journey through building strength and resilience. It has also been adapted for other paediatric populations, supporting young people to change their relationship with their health condition where a difficult narrative may otherwise be dominant.Given that children with IBD also report difficulties navigating and managing symptoms, treatment and overall wellbeing, the current group was adapted to support patients with IBD to share their preferred narrative, explore their IBD journey and connect with peers.The Paediatric Gastroenterology Psychology Service ran four one-day group workshops from October 2023-October 2024 with 23 participants in total aged 10–17 with a diagnosis of IBD. When possible, the workshops were also co-facilitated by a young person who had previously attended. The workshop invited attendees to select beads that represent their preferred narrative including strengths, important people and hopes and wishes for the future. Using externalisation, attendees were able to understand their diagnosis from a different perspective which led to further beads selected to represent their IBD journey.All attendees completed feedback on the workshop using a Likert rating scale alongside Qualitative feedback which was analysed using content analysis. Prior to the workshop and at 1 month follow up, attendees were asked to complete the Wellbeing and Health Experiences Evaluation Log (WHEEL) and IBD Self-Efficacy Scale for Adolescents and Young Adults (IBDSES-A).On average, attendees rated sharing experiences of IBD as 8/10 (where 10 is ‘Very Useful’), enjoying the group as 8/10 (Where 10 is ‘Very Much Enjoyed’), and recommending the group as 8.3/10 (Where 10 is ‘Very Much Would Recommend’). Themes from the qualitative feedback demonstrated the value young people placed on sharing their IBD experiences, relating and connecting to others as a way of reducing isolation and taking away messages of empowerment: ‘Not having IBD hold me back.’ The quantitative data of those that completed the WHEEL and IBDSES-A at the 1 month follow up was analysed using descriptive statistics (Mean; M, and Standard Deviation; SD). See table 1.The feedback from the workshops is in line with previous findings using the beads of life approach. The themes support our aims to provide a safe space for children and young people to share their preferred stories of their identity and IBD journey, connect with others and reduce feelings of isolation: ‘knowing you are not alone.’ This demonstrated promising results in supporting young people to make sense of their IBD journey.Abstract OC64 Table 1Mean scores for attendees that completed 1 month follow up questionnaires (n=8) WHEEL M (SD) IBDSES-A M (SD) Baseline 3.62 (0.35) 45.88 (3.80) 1 Month 3.89 (0.27) 48.38 (3.58) Change +0.27 +2.5",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "St Georges Hospital, London"
      ],
      "name": "Holly Tallentire"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "St Georges Hospital, London"
      ],
      "name": "Arijeta Reka"
    }
  ],
  "title": "OC64 Facilitating and evaluating the beads of life workshop for young people with inflammatory bowel disease: i recognised all the things i have overcome and that i wasn’t alone",
  "uid": "b4a6ec5b-a5ac-565b-b452-6bacd349ca9b"
}