Development of online support for teens to manage food allergy

We are looking for young people aged 12-17 years to take part in an interview or focus group to talk about how they manage their food allergy and what they would like from a new online support programme.

Food allergy is associated with reduced quality of life, and increased stress, anxiety, and depression. Despite this, psychological support for people with food allergy is very limited. The Global Access to Psychological Services (GAPS) for Food Allergy team is a multinational group of experts in food allergy, led by Prof Rebecca Knibb, at Aston University.

The GAPS team came together to explore what adults living with food allergy and caregivers of children with food allergy need from a psychological support intervention.  We would now like to talk to adolescents about what support they would like.  This information will be used to develop an online programme aiming to improve the quality of life of adolescents and how they manage their food allergy.

Young people can take part if they are aged 12-17 years, have a food allergy diagnosed by a medical professional and have access to the internet to take part in the study online.  We are running the study in the UK, Canada, USA and Australia, so young people can take part if they live in one of those countries.  They can’t take part if they are receiving any psychological therapy for their food allergy at the moment.

If you are a parent of a child aged 12-17 years and are interested in finding out more and signing up for the study, please click here.

If you are 16 or 17 years old and are interested in finding out more and signing up for the study, please click here.

Thank you.

This study is headed by Professor Rebecca Knibb at Aston University in collaboration Professor Chrissie Jones, Dr Helen Brough, Dr Linda Herbert, Dr Jennifer Protudjer, Dr Chris Warren, and Mary Jane Marchisotto, Centres in the UK, the USA and Canada.