Psychosocial development in children with food allergy

Children with food allergy have previously been found to be at an increased risk of negative socio-emotional outcomes, and teenagers particularly represent a high-risk group for anaphylactic fatalities caused by food allergy.

With this in mind, researchers at Ireland's Cork University Hospital and University College hope to develop a model of psychosocial development based on empirical food allergy research to assist clinicians, researchers and policy-makers to predict and evaluate the real impact of food allergy on a child. They hope such a model will have positive implications for childhood food allergy prevention, treatment, intervention and health policy.

In undertaking the first stage of developing such a model, the researchers conducted fifteen focus groups meetings with 62 children (aged 6–15 years). Developmentally appropriate techniques were designed to stimulate discussion, maintain interest and minimize threat to children's self-esteem during the focus group meetings. Six key themes emerged from analysis of the session outcomes: meanings of food; autonomy, control and self-efficacy; peer relationships; risk and safety; self/identity; and coping strategies.

Food-allergic children were found to have different views of their allergy and different coping strategies that evolve in response to age, gender and context specific stressors. In many cases, the objective stressor may not be food allergy itself but its impact on self-concept. These differing views constitute a disease-specific psychological burden that needs to be factored into the planning of each child's health care.

The authors concluded that coping with food allergy is more than simply a strategy; rather it is a cumulative history of interactive processes (age, gender and disease specific) that are embedded in a child's developmental organization. Clinicians and other health professionals need to address this burden more effectively than they do at present to ensure more positive future outcomes for these children.

Reference: DunnGalvin et al. 2009. Allergy. Vol 64 pp. 560–568.