Food‐allergy‐specific anxiety and distress in parents of children with food allergy: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Parenting a child with food allergy (FA) can lead to impaired quality of life and family functioning. Anxiety is a critical component of FA-associated distress and a potential target for therapeutic intervention. This systematic review aimed to clarify the concept of FA-specific anxiety (FAA) and its antecedents, consequences, and correlates and to determine the extent to which existing FA-specific outcome measures capture symptoms of parental distress and FAA. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CENTRAL were searched for qualitative and quantitative studies examining distress or anxiety in parents of children with FA through August 2020. This review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020208316) and conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Results: Ninety-eight studies were included in the final narrative synthesis. Most participants were mothers, and reporting of demographic data was limited. Parents identified anxiety as the most burdensome form of FA-specific emotional distress. Several allergy-related factors as well as medical and psychosocial interventions were associated with reduced parental anxiety and distress. However, affective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions of FAA were only partially addressed by existing measures for general anxiety symptoms and FA-specific parental factors. Conclusions: FAA contributes to distress and functional impairment among parents of children with FA. Current FA-specific parent measures fail to adequately capture dimensions of FAA, suggesting that further work is needed to improve the assessment and monitoring of FAA and its impacts. Characterization of this construct represents an initial step in developing standardized methods for assessing and monitoring FAA in clinical populations.

Decreased food allergy-specific anxiety and increased general anxiety in parents of children with food allergies during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

“…However, excess anxiety can lead to increased parental burden and impaired health-related quality of life. 6 FA-specific anxiety (FAA) includes emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physical domains; although associated with generalized anxietyin which worries about a number of events or activities are difficult to control-it is a distinct construct. 7 To our knowledge, there have been no analyses of impacts of the pandemic on parental FAA and implications for family support.…”

Measuring the Impact of Food Immunotherapy on Health-Related Quality of Life in Clinical Trials

“…To date, there has been little exploration of psychological factors correlated with HRQL outcomes (e.g., anxiety, health beliefs, risk perception, information processing, coping behaviors), and the impact of these on treatment success ( 18 , 57 ). The causal pathways for these factors on HRQL status also remain to be determined.…”

Láthatatlan akadályok – súlyos gyermekkori ételallergia a családban

“…A bullyinggal (ismétlődő bántalmazó viselkedés, melyet a felek közötti kiegyenlítetlen erőviszony jellemez) járó feszültség és károk nemcsak a gyermeket, hanem a szülőket is érintik. Számos tanulmány számol be arról, hogy az ételallergiás gyermekek szülei körében mérhetően nagyobb a stressz, a szorongásos és depreszszív tünetek előfordulása [23,25,26], ezzel összefüggésben pedig az élettel való elégedettségük is alacsonyabb szintű [25][26][27].…”