Our Aims

There is robust psychosocial research documenting increased anxiety and decreased quality of life (QoL) among patients with food allergy and their caregivers. Access to food allergy-related psychological resources and professionals equipped with food allergy expertise is crucial to supporting families in successful food allergy management. Recent systematic reviews have shown that interventions such as cognitive-behavioral therapy are successful at reducing general and food allergy-specific mental health concerns. However, research conducted by our team regarding access to psychological care has indicated that there are few mental health professionals to whom allergists can refer patients.

Given evidence that psychosocial distress related to food allergy is a global phenomenon, we need to characterize these food allergy-specific psychological needs and access to care in order to inform food allergy and psychological health care leaders about the psychosocial needs of the food allergy population and their families, and encourage educated decisions about resource allocation. Ultimately patients whose psychosocial needs are met are more likely to be better equipped to engage in appropriate food allergy management and enjoy better QoL. The aims of this project is to improve food allergy patient outcomes by ensuring that patients' psychosocial needs are met via three objectives: