Abstract
It is well documented that young people living with food allergy can have heightened levels of anxiety and a significant impact on quality of life. Although limited studies have investigated the effectiveness of psychological support for parents of children with food allergy, empirical evidence is sparse for interventions supporting young people’s psychological wellbeing. There is suggestion in the literature of the benefits of a cognitive behavioural based intervention to support this patient group. This study used a randomised controlled trial (RCT) design to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a low intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) group workshop. Participants were a sample of 52 young people aged 11-17 with food allergy and were allocated to either the intervention group or a control group who did not receive an intervention until after the completion of the study. The intervention consisted of two three-hour sessions spaced one-week apart and were facilitated by two trainee clinical psychologists via an online platform. Participants completed measures of food allergy related quality of life, worry, adherence to food allergy self-care behaviours and coping strategies at baseline, one-month and three-months post intervention. Those in the intervention group also completed goal-based outcome measures and a workshop feedback form. Recruitment was successful, justifying a need for psychological support for young people with food allergy. Although attrition did occur at baseline, very few participants were lost to follow-up in each group. There were no demographic differences found between those who dropped out and those who completed the study. For food allergy related quality of life, the impact was reduced in the intervention group compared to the control at both the one-month (Hedges g = 0.70, 95% CI [0.01, 1.40]) and three-month (Hedges g = 1.23, 95% CI [0.51, 1.96]) follow-up. No differences were found on other measures of worry, coping and adherence to food allergy specific self-care behaviours between groups. However, the goal-based outcomes demonstrated trends of improvement towards participants’ subjective goals. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the workshop feedback form found the intervention to be acceptable and supportive to participants. Overall, the intervention showed promising feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary signals of efficacy. Results are interpreted within the feasibility design and recommendations are made for future research.