Living with food allergy: What this means for children

Food allergy: a proposed new tool for educating children and young people and supporting them to self-manage

Self-managing food allergy in children and young people presents challenges for families as they attempt to find a balance between their child's safety and freedom. Nurses have an important role in providing education that supports children, young people and their parents to self-manage food allergy safely but not at the expense of the child or young person's social development. At Nottingham Children's Hospital, the allergy service and youth service have developed an education and support tool composed of three domains, 'awareness', 'checking' and 'emergency kit', forming the acronym ACE. The authors suggest that the ACE tool could be used by healthcare professionals as a framework for educating children and young people with food allergy and their parents, as well as by children and young people and their parents at home to risk assess and risk manage everyday situations and new scenarios or events.

Beliefs about food allergies in adolescents aged 11-19 years: A systematic review

Aims

Research suggests of people with food allergy (FA), adolescents have the highest risk of fatal allergic reactions to food, yet understanding of this population and how they manage their condition is limited. Understanding beliefs and how they affect behaviour could inform ways to reduce risk taking behaviour and fatal reactions in adolescents. This systematic review aimed to explore beliefs adolescents hold about their FA, and how these may be associated with FA management.

Demographics

Adolescents aged 11-19 years with FA.

Methodology

A systematic search of seven databases was conducted. Papers of any design were included that reported on the beliefs about FA in adolescents aged 11-19 years. Data was systemised by narrative thematic analysis.

Findings

20 studies were included. Themes included navigating FA in different environments, carriage and use of adrenaline auto-injectors, management of the risk of anaphylaxis, behaviour and understanding of others, and food-allergic identity.

Implications

Adolescents with FA hold a variety of condition beliefs; some beliefs were related to behaviour that could lead to an allergic reaction, while other beliefs were related to protective behaviours. Further research into understanding adolescent beliefs in order to inform clinical management and reduce the risk of potential fatal reactions is essential.