Caregivers of children with no food allergy – their experiences and perception of the condition

Background: Food allergy (FA) is one of the most important health issues in school children. Although one of the commonest places where pediatric anaphylaxis occurs is the home of a peer, the perception and experiences of caregivers who do not have a child with FA are unclear.

Methods: Anonymous paper-based questionnaire were distributed to caregivers of FA children (FA caregivers) in National Center for Child Health and Development and caregivers of non-FA children (non-FA caregivers) in public school in Tokyo. We examined the perception and experiences of FA among three groups: Group1, non-FA caregiver who had not witnessed adverse reactions and near-miss events related to FA; Group 2, non-FA caregivers who had witnessed adverse reactions and near-miss events related to FA; and Group3, caregivers who had a child with FA.

Results: Epinephrine auto-injector was recognized by 43.6% non-FA caregivers. Only 2.8% of non-FA caregivers had experienced a child being bullied, harassed or refused by a school because of FA. There were more caregivers in Group 2 who thought they could take the appropriate action if they witnessed a child with adverse response to causal food compared to Group 1 (p<0.05). All groups felt anxious over adverse events related to FA.

Conclusion: The experiences and perception of FA was lacking low among non-FA caregivers. Therefore, it is also important to provide FA education for non-FA caregivers in order to improve the quality of life of FA children.