TY - JOUR
T1 - A Global Survey of Mental Health Treatment Experiences among Food Allergy Patients and Caregivers
AU - Herbert, Linda Jones
AU - Knibb, Rebecca C.
AU - Protudjer, Jennifer L.P.
AU - Jones, Christina J.
AU - Marchisotto, Mary Jane
AU - Brough, Helen A.
AU - Warren, Christopher
AU - Screti, Cassandra
AU - Engel, Melissa L.
AU - Park, Sean
AU - Santos, Alexandra F
AU - Gupta, Ruchi
AU - Vickery, Brian P.
N1 - Copyright © 2025 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. This accepted manuscript version is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
PY - 2025/5/14
Y1 - 2025/5/14
N2 - BACKGROUND: Barriers to mental health treatment have been identified among individuals managing food allergy (FA), yet little is known about their experiences accessing this care.OBJECTIVE: We assessed the mental health treatment experiences of caregivers and adults with FA within the Global Access to Psychological Services for FA Study.METHODS: Caregivers of children with FA and adults with FA from >20 countries completed online surveys about experiences with FA-related mental health treatment.RESULTS: Overall, 21.6% (411/1907) of caregivers and 22.8% (304/1329) of adults reported receiving FA-related mental health treatment. Most of those participants (96.2%) lived in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, or the United States. Cognitive behavioral therapy was the most common treatment reported by caregivers (30.1%) and adults (33.2%). Most caregivers and adults were at least somewhat satisfied with their experience (75.9% and 72.4%, respectively) and perceived that mental health providers were at least somewhat FA knowledgeable (62.5% and 60.06%, respectively), although caregiver and adult perceptions of knowledge significantly varied by country with lowest percentages in Australia (31.8% and 33.4%, respectively) and highest in Portugal (96.0% and 90.9%, respectively), p<.01. Most caregivers (72.1%) and adults (75.0%) reported mental health providers were at least somewhat helpful at addressing FA concerns, albeit again with significant international differences, p<.01.CONCLUSIONS: Most caregivers and adults reported satisfaction with FA-related mental health treatment and believed providers were somewhat FA knowledgeable. However, inter-country attitudes about FA-related mental health treatment experiences were noted.
AB - BACKGROUND: Barriers to mental health treatment have been identified among individuals managing food allergy (FA), yet little is known about their experiences accessing this care.OBJECTIVE: We assessed the mental health treatment experiences of caregivers and adults with FA within the Global Access to Psychological Services for FA Study.METHODS: Caregivers of children with FA and adults with FA from >20 countries completed online surveys about experiences with FA-related mental health treatment.RESULTS: Overall, 21.6% (411/1907) of caregivers and 22.8% (304/1329) of adults reported receiving FA-related mental health treatment. Most of those participants (96.2%) lived in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, or the United States. Cognitive behavioral therapy was the most common treatment reported by caregivers (30.1%) and adults (33.2%). Most caregivers and adults were at least somewhat satisfied with their experience (75.9% and 72.4%, respectively) and perceived that mental health providers were at least somewhat FA knowledgeable (62.5% and 60.06%, respectively), although caregiver and adult perceptions of knowledge significantly varied by country with lowest percentages in Australia (31.8% and 33.4%, respectively) and highest in Portugal (96.0% and 90.9%, respectively), p<.01. Most caregivers (72.1%) and adults (75.0%) reported mental health providers were at least somewhat helpful at addressing FA concerns, albeit again with significant international differences, p<.01.CONCLUSIONS: Most caregivers and adults reported satisfaction with FA-related mental health treatment and believed providers were somewhat FA knowledgeable. However, inter-country attitudes about FA-related mental health treatment experiences were noted.
KW - Adult
KW - Caregiver
KW - Children
KW - Food allergy
KW - Health care access
KW - Mental health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105007538858&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.jaci-inpractice.org/article/S2213-2198(25)00476-3/abstract
U2 - 10.1016/j.jaip.2025.05.015
DO - 10.1016/j.jaip.2025.05.015
M3 - Article
C2 - 40379241
SN - 2213-2201
JO - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice
JF - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice
ER -