Transition to School Anxiety for Mothers of Children with Food Allergy: Implications for Educators

Abstract

PARENTAL CONCERNS FOR THE safety of their children with food allergy greatly increase once they reach ‘school age’, yet those concerns have not been investigated to date, despite the increasing attendance of children with food allergy in schools in Australia and globally. This pilot study explored 10 affected Australian mothers' feelings and perspectives of their children's transition to school. The results from Photo Elicitation Interviews revealed that mothers were anxious, concerned about their children's safety, and they perceived food allergy risks to be comparatively greater in schools than in prior-to-school settings, especially in the school playground. Mothers had a myriad of concerns relating to trusting and transferring the responsibility for their children's safety to school staff, as well as to the children themselves. Additionally, they were concerned about other parents' negative attitudes towards food allergy or affected children and families, and normalising children's school life with food allergy. Although based on a small sample, the findings have important implications for educators to ease parental anxiety and facilitate their child's positive start to school.

Parents’ knowledge and views of food allergy management in primary schools in Australia

“…Notwithstanding these examples of best practice, Australian parents in the selected state were concerned about their child’s overall safety at school, especially in playground and non-routine activities, lapses in communication and implementation of guidelines and the schools’ lack of pro-activeness in communicating with families. These findings are similar to concerns reported in other studies of Australian parents when their children were starting school (Sanagavarapu et al, 2016).…”

“…Open and effective communication between schools and parents is vital in managing a child’s food allergy (Elhassan et al, 2017). This study underscores the need for schools to proactively support families, as noted in another Australian study on supporting smooth school transitions for children with food allergies (Sanagavarapu et al, 2016).…”

“…This study is significant amid the increasing prevalence and attendance of children with food allergy in Australian primary schools (Allen & Koplin, 2015; Kljakovic et al, 2009; Loke et al, 2016; Osborne et al, 2011). This study will contribute to improving schools’ FAM practices, promote children’s safety in collaboration with parents, empower prospective parents with knowledge on the FAM, and, importantly, ease parents’ anxiety surrounding their child’s safety at school (Sanagavarapu et al, 2016).…”

“…They can feel confident about sending their child to school only if they know that educators are trained in anaphylaxis and there are clear procedures to manage food allergies at the school. Any gaps in the school's food allergy policies, procedures, and protocols, on the contrary, may intensify anxiety among parents, and can affect the child's health, wellbeing and educational outcomes (Sanagavarapu, Said, Katelaris & Wainstein, 2016). Although state guidelines may help to provide safe learning environments for children with food allergies and ease parental anxiety, the question remains of whether parents are aware of those guidelines and what are their views, concerns, and suggestions regarding these guidelines and FAM in Australian schools?…”

Transition to school process of children with disadvantages: A literature review

“…For this reason, the process of transition to school cannot always be interpreted clearly in the studies examined. Looking at how to transition to school is defined in the studies, and it was explained as (a) a long-term process covering the previous and subsequent years in the institution (Bell-Booth et al, 2014;Petriwskyj, 2013;Sanagavarapu, 2010;Sanagavarapu et al, 2016;Schischka et al, 2012;Walker et al, 2012), (b) a shorter-term process that requires a number of preparations (Carmody et al, 2015;Chang et al, 2012;Fontil & Petrakos, 2015;Rogers, 2018;Yıldırım-Hacıibrahimoğlu & Kargın, 2017), and (c) critical moments (Ames, 2012). In the other review study (Petriwskyj et al, 2005), it is seen that there are different definitions such as a school starting process reduced to teacher practice, ensuring continuity from home to school and a multi-layered process.…”