A Global Survey of Mental Health Treatment Experiences among Food Allergy Patients and Caregivers

Linda Jones Herbert; Rebecca C. Knibb; Jennifer L.P. Protudjer; Christina J. Jones; Mary Jane Marchisotto; Helen A. Brough; Christopher Warren; Cassandra Screti; Melissa L. Engel; Sean Park; Alexandra F Santos; Ruchi Gupta; Brian P. Vickery

doi:10.1016/j.jaip.2025.05.015

A Global Survey of Mental Health Treatment Experiences among Food Allergy Patients and Caregivers

Linda Jones Herbert, Rebecca C. Knibb, Jennifer L.P. Protudjer, Christina J. Jones, Mary Jane Marchisotto, Helen A. Brough, Christopher Warren, Cassandra Screti, Melissa L. Engel, Sean Park, Alexandra F Santos, Ruchi Gupta, Brian P. Vickery

School of Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice
Volume	13
Issue number	8
Early online date	14 May 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2025.05.015
Publication status	Published - Aug 2025

Bibliographical note

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/

Funding

Funding for this project was awarded by Novartis, Aimmune, National Peanut Board and EAACI.

Keywords

Adult
Caregiver
Children
Food allergy
Health care access
Mental health

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jaip.2025.05.015

Cite this

Herbert, L. J., Knibb, R. C., Protudjer, J. L. P., Jones, C. J., Marchisotto, M. J., Brough, H. A., Warren, C., Screti, C., Engel, M. L., Park, S., Santos, A. F., Gupta, R., & Vickery, B. P. (2025). A Global Survey of Mental Health Treatment Experiences among Food Allergy Patients and Caregivers. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, 13(8). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2025.05.015

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title = "A Global Survey of Mental Health Treatment Experiences among Food Allergy Patients and Caregivers",

abstract = "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.",

keywords = "Adult, Caregiver, Children, Food allergy, Health care access, Mental health",

author = "Herbert, {Linda Jones} and Knibb, {Rebecca C.} and Protudjer, {Jennifer L.P.} and Jones, {Christina J.} and Marchisotto, {Mary Jane} and Brough, {Helen A.} and Christopher Warren and Cassandra Screti and Engel, {Melissa L.} and Sean Park and Santos, {Alexandra F} and Ruchi Gupta and Vickery, {Brian P.}",

note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} 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/ ",

year = "2025",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1016/j.jaip.2025.05.015",

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Herbert, LJ, Knibb, RC, Protudjer, JLP, Jones, CJ, Marchisotto, MJ, Brough, HA, Warren, C, Screti, C, Engel, ML, Park, S, Santos, AF, Gupta, R & Vickery, BP 2025, 'A Global Survey of Mental Health Treatment Experiences among Food Allergy Patients and Caregivers', Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, vol. 13, no. 8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2025.05.015

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 - 2025/8

Y1 - 2025/8

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

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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

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JO - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice

JF - Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice

IS - 8

ER -

A Global Survey of Mental Health Treatment Experiences among Food Allergy Patients and Caregivers

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