Epidemiology

Parental health literacy and prevention, diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases in children

The birth of a child marks the beginning of a new phase of life for parents, which can be particularly suitable for promoting health literacy (HL), health behaviour and health: Parents have many contacts with the healthcare system and are confronted with a considerable amount of information about their child's health.
Early childhood allergy prevention (ECAP) refers to measures on maternal and child nutrition and avoidance of or exposure to specific allergens. Parental health literacy is an important prerequisite for many aspects of health behaviour, possibly also for early childhood allergy prevention. 
Results from the first phase of the project have shown that mothers' SC increases slightly in the first year of their child's life. However, there is still a lack of evidence on how GK develops over a longer period of time and is influenced by changing personal and situational factors. In addition, the paradigm shift towards the early introduction of allergens has not yet reached all families and measures to avoid potentially allergenic foods are still being implemented. Although there are numerous observational studies on risk factors and recent intervention studies on the prevention of childhood allergic diseases, there is a lack of understanding of how and when GK translates into positive allergy-related health behaviour and health in children. However, this could provide valuable insights for future research and intervention development. In addition, the journey that families go through from recognising initial symptoms to diagnosis and, where appropriate, treatment of allergies can be lengthy. Investigating this patient journey may provide insights into where families' journeys are particularly complicated and the role of individualised GK and GK-focused communication by healthcare professionals.
 

Study objectives

The aims of this project are,

  1. To analyse the development of maternal GK over five years,
  2. To analyse parental measures for FKAP, the occurrence of allergic diseases and the associations with GK and
  3. To explore patient journeys from symptom recognition to allergy diagnosis and treatment, analysing the role of parental GK and the role of GK-oriented communication by healthcare professionals.  

The data basis for the analyses is the KUNO-Kids Health Study (https://kunokids.info/).