Self-Efficacy Among Caregivers of Children With Food Allergy: A Cohort Study

Authors

Andrea A. Pappalardo, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
Linda Herbert, Children's National Hospital, USA.
Christopher Warren, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, USA.
Lisa Lombard, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, USA.
Ashley Ramos, Children's National Hospital, USA.
Amal Asa'ad, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA.
Hemant Sharma, Children's National Hospital, USA.
Mary C. Tobin, Rush University, USA.
Jonathan Choi, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, USA.
Haley Hultquist, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, USA.
Jialing Jiang, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, USA.
Ashwin Kulkarni, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, USA.
Mahboobeh Mahdavinia, Rush University, USA.
Eileen Vincent, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, USA.
Ruchi Gupta, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, USA.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-26-2022

Journal

Journal of pediatric psychology

DOI

10.1093/jpepsy/jsab137

Keywords

caregivers; food allergy; pediatrics; quality of life; self-efficacy

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of pediatric food allergy (FA) is increasing and, due to early disease onset, requires significant caregiver management that is associated with psychosocial burden. Caregiver perception of how they cope and handle FA-related events (self-efficacy) has been linked to psychosocial outcomes in racially/geographically homogenous samples. This study explores FA-related caregiver self-efficacy and associations with FA-related caregiver quality of life (QoL) in a diverse cohort. METHODS: Caregivers of children, diagnosed with IgE-mediated FA who identified as non-Hispanic Black or White, were recruited from U.S. academic allergy clinics. Caregivers completed demographic and medical questionnaires, the Food Allergy Self-Efficacy Scale for Parents (FASE-P), Food Allergy Independent Measure-Parent Form (FAIM), and the Food Allergy Quality of Life-Parental Burden (FAQL-PB). Bivariate and multivariate associations estimated relationships between study variables. RESULTS: Caregivers of 365 children (Mage = 5.8 years, 62.2% male, 31.1% Black) were enrolled. Caregivers reported high FA self-efficacy (M = 82.06/100), moderate perceptions of risk/FA severity (FAIM: M = 3.9/7), and some limitations on the FAQL-PB (M = 3.9/7). Self-efficacy was related to lower perceptions of risk/FA severity across all demographic groups (r = -.42, p < .001). Caregivers who reported higher self-efficacy reported better QoL, particularly Black caregivers (r = .67). CONCLUSIONS: In this sample of caregivers of children with FA, greater self-efficacy was related to improved QoL regardless of sociodemographic factors. Caregivers' perception of risk was lower for those with greater self-efficacy. Future research into the impact of FA management on QoL among diverse caregivers is needed.

APA Citation

Pappalardo, Andrea A.; Herbert, Linda; Warren, Christopher; Lombard, Lisa; Ramos, Ashley; Asa'ad, Amal; Sharma, Hemant; Tobin, Mary C.; Choi, Jonathan; Hultquist, Haley; Jiang, Jialing; Kulkarni, Ashwin; Mahdavinia, Mahboobeh; Vincent, Eileen; and Gupta, Ruchi, "Self-Efficacy Among Caregivers of Children With Food Allergy: A Cohort Study" (2022). GW Authored Works. Paper 217.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/217

Department

Pediatrics