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What factors affect the carriage of epinephrine auto-injectors by teenagers?

What factors affect the carriage of epinephrine auto-injectors by teenagers?
What factors affect the carriage of epinephrine auto-injectors by teenagers?
Background
Teenagers with allergies are at particular risk of severe and fatal reactions, but epinephrine auto-injectors are not always carried as prescribed. We investigated barriers to carriage.

Methods
Patients aged 12-18 years old under a specialist allergy clinic, who had previously been prescribed an auto-injector were invited to participate. Semi-structured interviews explored the factors that positively or negatively impacted on carriage.

Results
Twenty teenagers with food or venom allergies were interviewed. Only two patients had used their auto-injector in the community, although several had been treated for severe reactions in hospital. Most teenagers made complex risk assessments to determine whether to carry the auto-injector. Most but not all decisions were rational and were at least partially informed by knowledge. Factors affecting carriage included location, who else would be present, the attitudes of others and physical features of the auto-injector. Teenagers made frequent risk assessments when deciding whether to carry their auto-injectors, and generally wanted to remain safe. Their decisions were complex, multi-faceted and highly individualised.

Conclusions
Rather than aiming for 100% carriage of auto-injectors, which remains an ambitious ideal, personalised education packages should aim to empower teenagers to make and act upon informed risk assessments.
3
Macadam, Clare
31b40330-16b7-45fb-90cd-183b9cdfd07e
Barnett, Julie
e075f8d9-cf31-4bfc-a6be-41988b5ce764
Roberts, Graham
3ed412f4-0e50-4a58-b958-d1cd55b72572
Stiefel, Gary
2cb1ba1d-be0c-495e-b65a-aaf54b865eba
King, Rosemary
c186e698-7de6-4126-bf96-01f3cf32da9c
Erlewyn-Lajeunesse, Michel
e1763b6d-165b-45c5-9108-5dc8722220b9
Holloway, Judith A.
f22f45f3-6fc8-4a4c-bc6c-24add507037c
Lucas, Jane S.
5cb3546c-87b2-4e59-af48-402076e25313
Macadam, Clare
31b40330-16b7-45fb-90cd-183b9cdfd07e
Barnett, Julie
e075f8d9-cf31-4bfc-a6be-41988b5ce764
Roberts, Graham
3ed412f4-0e50-4a58-b958-d1cd55b72572
Stiefel, Gary
2cb1ba1d-be0c-495e-b65a-aaf54b865eba
King, Rosemary
c186e698-7de6-4126-bf96-01f3cf32da9c
Erlewyn-Lajeunesse, Michel
e1763b6d-165b-45c5-9108-5dc8722220b9
Holloway, Judith A.
f22f45f3-6fc8-4a4c-bc6c-24add507037c
Lucas, Jane S.
5cb3546c-87b2-4e59-af48-402076e25313

Macadam, Clare, Barnett, Julie, Roberts, Graham, Stiefel, Gary, King, Rosemary, Erlewyn-Lajeunesse, Michel, Holloway, Judith A. and Lucas, Jane S. (2012) What factors affect the carriage of epinephrine auto-injectors by teenagers? Clinical and Translational Allergy, 2 (1), 3. (doi:10.1186/2045-7022-2-3). (PMID:22409884)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background
Teenagers with allergies are at particular risk of severe and fatal reactions, but epinephrine auto-injectors are not always carried as prescribed. We investigated barriers to carriage.

Methods
Patients aged 12-18 years old under a specialist allergy clinic, who had previously been prescribed an auto-injector were invited to participate. Semi-structured interviews explored the factors that positively or negatively impacted on carriage.

Results
Twenty teenagers with food or venom allergies were interviewed. Only two patients had used their auto-injector in the community, although several had been treated for severe reactions in hospital. Most teenagers made complex risk assessments to determine whether to carry the auto-injector. Most but not all decisions were rational and were at least partially informed by knowledge. Factors affecting carriage included location, who else would be present, the attitudes of others and physical features of the auto-injector. Teenagers made frequent risk assessments when deciding whether to carry their auto-injectors, and generally wanted to remain safe. Their decisions were complex, multi-faceted and highly individualised.

Conclusions
Rather than aiming for 100% carriage of auto-injectors, which remains an ambitious ideal, personalised education packages should aim to empower teenagers to make and act upon informed risk assessments.

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More information

Published date: 2 February 2012
Organisations: Clinical & Experimental Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 210918
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/210918
PURE UUID: f2cef2b2-3576-4aab-9704-fcd356682b28
ORCID for Michel Erlewyn-Lajeunesse: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1982-1397
ORCID for Judith A. Holloway: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2268-3071
ORCID for Jane S. Lucas: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8701-9975

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Date deposited: 10 Feb 2012 16:42
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 04:02

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Contributors

Author: Clare Macadam
Author: Julie Barnett
Author: Graham Roberts
Author: Gary Stiefel
Author: Rosemary King
Author: Michel Erlewyn-Lajeunesse ORCID iD
Author: Jane S. Lucas ORCID iD

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