Children's National Food Allergy School Nurse Education Program

Food allergies affect approximately 4 to 6 percent of all children under the age of 18 in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a food allergy is an adverse reaction to a specific food that the body reacts to as harmful. Although reasons for this are poorly understood, the prevalence of food allergies and associated anaphylaxis appears to be on the rise across the country. Research has shown that children with a food allergy are at increased risk of having an allergic reaction at school and negative attitudes regarding food allergy may exist among school nurses. The Children's National Food Allergy School Nurse Education Program seeks to increase knowledge about childhood food allergy through a standardized educational curriculum. Program participants were given a food-item allergy attitude questionnaire before and after attending the standardized food allergy education program to assess any attitude changes.

The Children's National Food Allergy School Nurse Education Program seeks to increase knowledge about childhood food allergy through a standardized educational curriculum.

The Children's National Food Allergy School Nurse Education Program significantly increased the percent of nurses in the District of Columbia who believed students were teased or bullied due to food allergy and felt food allergy was a serious health concern for which schools should have guidelines.

A food allergy knowledge questionnaire was administered to 173 District of Columbia public school nurses before and after attending a standardized food allergy education program. A total of 157/196 (80%) eligible nurses completed the pre- and post-intervention questionnaires. Several attitude changes were observed after the education program. The greatest change was noted in the proportion of nurses who believed students were teased or bullied due to their food allergy (pre-32%, post-56%, p<0.0001). While most nurses felt food allergy was a serious health concern (94%) for which schools should have guidelines (94%), agreement with both points was significantly increased and unanimous (99%) after the program (p=0.02 and p=0.007, respectively). Program officials found that education did not significantly alter negative perceptions of parents of food-allergic children as being overprotective (p=0.18) and making unreasonable requests of schools (p=0.44).