Challenges Parents Face While Trying to Coping with Food Allergic Children Who Had Experienced Anaphylaxis

Objective: Parents of children with food allergy (FA) have to feed their children safely while they are trying to prevent exposure to the offending food. In this study we aimed to identify their problems in order to help developing measures for improving quality of life of parents of children with FA. Material and Methods: A prospective multicenter study was carried out in Turkey between May 2015 and January 2016. Study participants included parents of children who had anaphylaxis due to FA. A face to face questionnaire was used. Results: Parents of 70 patients were included of which, 62.9% were male, and median age was 48.5 months. Fifty percent had problems about family life, 51.4% had problems about outside activities. While 74% reported they helped each other, 22% claimed they had problems with their spouse because of FA. Of the parents, 80% were anxious and 75.7% reported they overprotect their children; 52.9% had problems about school life and 12.9% reported that school did not want to register their children. Of parents, 54.3% had problems with friend relations, 10% of parents reported that their children were alienated by their friends. Seventy percent know how to use adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) but 40% were afraid to use. Occupied mothers, mothers with lower education and parents of children with cow’s milk allergy were more often affected (p<0.05). Conclusion: Health care workers must be aware of the problems of parents and be prepared to help them. Parents must be informed about AAI use in every visit