Anxiety About Casual Exposure to Food Allergens

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Living with food allergy may result in anxiety and reduced quality of life. Food allergic patients and their families are often concerned about casual exposure with the offending allergen through skin contact or being near the offending food, which is actually very low risk. This concern can limit social activities and increase stress. The aim of this study is to provide a behavioral intervention consisting of having peanut/tree nut allergic patients hold a cup with a peanut or tree nut to which the patient is allergic to and touching it. The goal is to reduce anxiety about casual exposure to food allergens and improve quality of life for patients with food allergies and their families.

Detailed Description
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The purpose of the present study is to determine if having patients (ages 9-17) who are peanut and/or tree nut allergic, and endorse anxiety/discomfort about non-ingestion exposure, hold and touch their offending allergen in addition to education leads to reduced discomfort for both patient and caregiver compared to education alone. The primary outcome measure is immediate differences in the score obtained on a child-reported scale in response to a question assessing how worried the patient is about the thought of being near or touching peanut or tree nut from pre-intervention to immediate post-intervention when compared between an intervention (education and touching) and a control group (education only). Secondary outcome measures include: difference between and within groups of child-reported scales regarding questions assessing patients worry regarding casual exposure immediately and one month post intervention within and between groups, differences between and within groups on a parent-reported scale regarding parental worry about casual exposure to food allergen immediately and one month post intervention within and between groups, differences between and within groups on a parent-proxy measures regarding child worry about casual exposure to food allergen immediately and one month post intervention within and between groups, improvement in child anxiety and parent-proxy measures of anxiety from pre-intervention to one month post-intervention within and between groups and improvement in parent-proxy measures of quality of life from pre-intervention to one month post-intervention within and between groups.

Official Title
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Trial To Reduce Food Allergy Anxiety by Holding the Allergen (TOUCH Study)

Conditions
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Food Allergy

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Behavioral intervention group
* Behavioral: Education


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Age: 9 years to 17.5 years Patient seen in the outpatient clinic (no inpatients). Patient and or caretaker endorses anxiety about being in proximity with or touching peanut Patients must have been diagnosed with a peanut and or tree nut allergy Exclusion Criteria: Patients and caregiver(s) without ability to understand the study, as determined by either: a previously diagnosed cognitive disability or inability to repeat the study protocol at the time of consent.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 108 Months
Maximum Age: 210 Months

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Active Comparator: Behavioral Intervention<br>Behavioral Intervention Group - Education regarding nut allergy and will also have contact with nut. | Behavioral: Behavioral intervention group<br>* Patients will hold the peanut or tree nut in a cup and will be asked to touch the nut with their finger.<br>Behavioral: Education<br>* The group will be educated about what can occur with contact with or being in proximity of peanuts or tree nuts.<br>|
| Placebo Comparator: Control<br>Education regarding nut allergy | Behavioral: Education<br>* The group will be educated about what can occur with contact with or being in proximity of peanuts or tree nuts.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Child worry about casual exposure | Change in a child-reported 10-point likert scale assessing how worried the child is about the thought of being near or touching peanut or tree nut, where 0 is not worried at all and 10 is extremely worried pre-intervention compared to immediately post-intervention. | Baseline and approximately 10 minutes | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Parent worry about casual exposure | Parent-proxy reported scale in response to additional questions assessing how worried the child is about the thought of being near or touching peanut or tree nut, where 0 is not worried at all and 10 is extremely worried, at one month compared to baseline. | Baseline and one month | 
| Food Allergy Quality of Life-Parental Burden (FAQL-PB) Questionnaire | The score obtained on a parent-reported quality of life questionnaire (QOL). QOL is measured on a standardized FAQL-PB questionnaire which consists of 17 questions and responses are measured on a 6-point likert scale where 0 is not limited and 6 is very limited with total from 0 to 102. | One month | 
| The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) | Change in child anxiety at one month compared to baseline.The SCARED consists of 17 items, rated on a 3 point Likert-type scale. Total score range from 0 (not anxious) to 34 (very anxious). | Baseline and one month | 
| SCARED - parent version | Change in parent-proxy measures of child anxiety on parent reported SCARED at one month compared to baseline. 17 items, rated on a 3 point Likert-type scale. Total score range from 0 (not anxious) to 34 (very anxious). | Baseline and one month | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Anxiety, Tree nut Hypersensitivity, Adolescents, Food Allergy, Casual Exposure, Peanut Hypersensitivity