Educating adolescents at Risk of Anaphylaxis and their Future Doctors
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Educating adolescents at Risk of Anaphylaxis and their Future Doctors (ERA+FD)
IRAS ID
163553
Contact name
Neil Davidson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 7 days
Research summary
Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening allergic reaction. Adolescent patients and doctors lack knowledge and skill in anaphylaxis recognition and management. Adolescents have the highest rates of anaphylaxis related mortality and they have reduced quality of life compared with their healthy peers. These issues must be addressed through improved education, to ensure better patient care. Modern technology can support innovative educational methods.
In a previous research project, Educating adolescents at Risk of Anaphylaxis (The ERA Study, UKCRN ID 13139, MREC No 11/EE/0530, ISRCTN 06898570), we assessed the impact of a novel teaching session and prototype smartphone app on nut allergic adolescent anaphylaxis knowledge, skill and disease-specific quality of life. This purely quantitative study left a number of questions unaddressed.
In the first phase of this new piece of work, we propose to recruit adolescent patients from the ERA cohort to develop a novel age-appropriate anaphylaxis management programme. This will make use of modern technology, including smartphones, recognising that adolescents today have grown up immersed in digital technology and persistent social networks. We will integrate the views and experiences of young people into the programme, using qualitative methods and design workshops with the nut allergic adolescents.
In the second phase we will recruit a group of medical students and work with them to adapt the resources into novel anaphylaxis education for their peers. We will perform a pilot randomised controlled trial of the implementation of this educational intervention to assess its feasibility and acceptability as a technology-enhanced learning tool.
At the conclusion of this project we will have both a comprehensive, age-appropriate, digital anaphylaxis management system for nut allergic adolescents, based on their unmet needs and experiences and a student-designed anaphylaxis technology-enhanced learning package for medical students, informed by patient experience. This approach will improve the care of adolescents with nut allergy, a vulnerable patient group.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/YH/0326
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jul 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion