Knowledge and attitudes of food allergy among nursing students in Hong Kong

Abstract

Background: Food allergy is gaining increasingly prevalent in Hong Kong. Its physiological implications can be life-threatening under inappropriate management. Food allergy not only causes physical impacts but also psychological impacts on patients which may affect their quality of life. Although the impacts of food allergy may be severe, the awareness of the general public remains low. They may have unclear concepts about food allergy. If healthcare professionals possess insufficient food allergy knowledge, this may affect the effectiveness and efficiency of treatment, and hence worsening the prognosis. The knowledge and attitudes of nursing students towards food allergy may influence the prevention and management of future clinical practices.

Purpose: (1) To investigate and characterise food allergy knowledge and attitudes among nursing students in Hong Kong. (2) To provide an in-depth insight into food allergy knowledge and attitudes among nursing students in Hong Kong.

Methods: A pilot study with convenience sampling required 10% of its sample size (n=40). A descriptive cross-sectional survey was adopted. Participants who were senior-year nursing students studying in nursing programs in a higher academic institute were recruited in this study. The collected data were managed by a descriptive analysis of means, frequencies, and standard deviations. The P value less than 0.05 is considered statistically significant.

Results: This study recruited 61 senior-year nursing students studying in a local higher academic institute. For the knowledge part, the overall frequency of correct responses of the participants was 34.8% which indicated an inadequate knowledge of nursing students towards food allergy. For the attitudes part, the mean score of the participants that were confident in taking care of food allergy patients was only 2.71 which indicated that most participants were not confident with their skills and knowledge in food allergy.

Conclusion: The knowledge and attitudes towards food allergy among nursing students was fair. More opportunities for improvement are warranted to help respondents build their clinical abilities and increase their confidence in taking care of food allergy patients.