D2.199 - ‘When I became older, I started having to manage that more myself’ – experiences of adolescents with food allergies: a qualitative study

It is often caregivers or healthcare professionals’ experiences that are studied in the field of allergy, but the adolescents’ perspective is crucial to develop interventions that support them in areas they find most challenging. This study aims to explore adolescents’ experience of managing food allergies, particularly how they navigate the transition from parental management to self-management.

This is an interpretive descriptive qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten adolescents with food allergies aged 12-16 years. Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted. The recently published Reflexive Thematic Analysis Reporting Guidelines were used.

Four themes were generated, 1) belonging – seeing me, a) acknowledgement, b) striving for acceptance, 2) not knowing, a) knowing that I don’t know, b) not knowing that I don’t know, 3) taking responsibility – ‘So I guess when I became older, I started having to manage that more myself’ and 4) variation in coping strategies, a) avoidant, b) minimisation, c) adaptive.

These describe adolescents need for belonging, that their peers acknowledge their food allergies without making them feel like a burden. Adolescents understanding of essential food allergy information was lacking, with some unaware of this lack of knowledge. Adolescents were conscious of the need to take over responsibility from their parents, although this could be difficult, with certain aspects such as communication with restaurant staff causing particular problems. Finally, how adolescents coped with all these aspects of their food allergy could be seen as avoidant due to high anxiety, minimising of risk, or the ideal balance of adaptive coping.

Adolescents should teach their friends about their allergy management, both to feel better understood and safer. Concerningly, adolescents may not realise what knowledge they are lacking. Many adolescents find the transition of responsibility from their parents difficult. Adaptive coping should be encouraged, where adolescents have emotional resilience and are aware of and mitigate risks appropriately, but not avoid important life experiences due to excess anxiety. A trusted source of allergy information is required aimed at adolescents, covering both physical allergy management and psychosocial content.