Food Allergy Education and Management in Schools: A Scoping Review on Current Practices and Gaps

Abstract

Currently, no synthesis of in-school policies, practices and teachers and school staff’s food allergy-related knowledge exists. We aimed to conduct a scoping review on in-school food allergy management, and perceived gaps or barriers in these systems. We conducted a PRISMA-ScR-guided search for eligible English or French language articles from North America, Europe, or Australia published in OVID-MedLine, Scopus, and PsycINFO databases. Two reviewers screened 2010 arti-cles’ titles/abstracts, with 77 full-text screened. Reviewers differed by language. Results were re-ported descriptively and thematically. We included 12 studies. Among teachers and school staff, food allergy experiences, training, and knowledge varied widely. Food allergy experience was re-ported in 10/12 studies (83.4%); 20.0–88.0% had received previous training (4/10 studies; 40.0%) and 43.0–72.2% never had training (2/10 studies; 20.0%). In-school policies including epinephrine auto-injector (EAI) and emergency anaphylaxis plans (EAP) were described in 5/12 studies (41.7%). Educational interventions (8/12 studies; 66.7%) increased participants’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and confidence to manage food allergy and anaphylaxis vs. baseline. Teachers and school staff have more food allergy-related experiences than training and knowledge to manage emergencies. Man-datory, standardized training including EAI use and evaluation, and the provision of available EAI and EAPs may increase school staff emergency preparedness.