Positive self-care behaviours are more likely in young people who engage with allergy support groups, but reasons for this association are not well understood.
This study explored how and why young people engage with allergy support groups to identify what activities and resources are beneficial.
In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with young people aged 12-21 years who reported engaging with allergy support groups (in person or on-line). Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic content analysis.
The 21 participants had a range of allergies; initially most joined support groups on suggestion of their parent/carer although older participants sought groups independently. Feeling included and sharing experiences with people with similar problems/challenges were highly valued. Through membership, young people reported improved self-esteem and confidence in both managing their allergies and lives generally. Information, such as allergy alerts and hard-hitting video campaigns were reported to positively influence adherence to self-care behaviours such as carrying medication which led to sustained engagement. Participants wanted greater availability of allergy support groups, and higher profiles in healthcare and educational settings, as well as through social media.
Participants valued the psychological and practical support of networking with others with allergies, and described how membership improved their confidence. This study also provides insight into the ways support groups improve young people's adherence to medical advice and positive self-care behaviours; participants responded well to hard-hitting video campaigns which appeared to emphasise the severity and susceptibility of anaphylaxis. Participants identified the need for more active promotion of support groups amongst young people and their clinicians, as well as making them available in more localities. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 10 July 2018.
All research outputs
#7,816,743
of 25,354,251 outputs
Outputs from Clinical & Experimental Allergy
#1,599
of 3,831 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#122,628
of 334,846 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Clinical & Experimental Allergy
#24
of 47 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,354,251 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 68th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,831 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 8.4. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 58% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 334,846 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 63% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 47 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 51% of its contemporaries.
