Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2024

Identifier

DOI: 10.2500/jfa.2020.2.200034; PMCID: PMC11250634

Abstract

RATIONALE: Food allergy education is often directed toward adult caregivers. However, once children go to school, they must participate in their food allergy care to remain safe. The purpose of this study was to assess food allergy knowledge and test an educational intervention targeted toward the child. We hypothesized that child-based teaching will be equal in safety and knowledge outcomes compared with standard parental education.

METHODS: Twenty-nine children between the ages of 5-11 years and their caregivers were enrolled. Child subjects completed a food allergy knowledge questionnaire. Each caregiver/child dyad was randomized to receive parent-targeted education (control) or child-targeted education (treatment) and was given an educational booklet. Six weeks later, the child completed the same knowledge questionnaire. At the end of the semester, the caregivers were asked to report allergic reactions that occurred at school.

RESULTS: There were no differences between the groups on age or type of school attended. All the subjects demonstrated a statistically significant increase in allergy knowledge from time 1 (completion of survey 1) to time 2 (completion of survey 2) (t = -6.301; p < 0.001) There was no difference in knowledge between the groups at time 2 (t = -1.782; p = 0.089) and no difference between the groups on allergic reactions during the study period (χ2 = 2.33; p = 0.13).

CONCLUSION: This pilot study, with a small sample size, demonstrated that child-based education was comparable with education targeted toward caregivers, with no difference in allergic events. Children can take an active role in education and management of their food allergies at school.

Journal Title

J Food Allergy

Volume

2

Issue

2

First Page

161

Last Page

163

Comments

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits reproduction and redistribution in any medium or format according to the license terms, provided the work is not used for commercial purposes and provided the original authors and source are properly credited and a link is provided to the Creative Commons license. For commercial permissions, visit https://oceansidepubl.com/permission-touse-content/

Publisher's Link: https://doi.org/10.2500/jfa.2020.2.200034

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