Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jan 4, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Jan 5, 2018 - Apr 12, 2018
Date Accepted: Apr 12, 2018
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Food Allergy Training for Schools and Restaurants (The Food Allergy Community Program): Protocol to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Web-Based Program
ABSTRACT
Background:
Food allergy is a growing public health concern. The literature suggests that a significant number of reactions occur in community services, such as schools and restaurants. Therefore, suitable training and education for education and catering professionals using viable and practical tools is needed.
Objective:
The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a Web-based food allergy training program for professionals working in schools and restaurants, designed to improve knowledge and good practices in the community.
Methods:
Free learning programs which contain educational animated videos about food allergy were developed for professionals working at schools and restaurants. The learning programs comprise of nine 5-minute videos, developed in video animation format using GoAnimate, with a total course length of 45-60 minutes. The courses for professionals at both schools and restaurants include contents about food allergy epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment, dietary avoidance, emergencies, labelling, and accidental exposure prevention. Additionally, specific topics for work practices at schools and restaurants were provided. Food allergy knowledge survey tools were developed to access the knowledge and management skills about food allergy of school and restaurant staff, at baseline and at the end of the food allergy program. The courses will be provided on the e-learning platform of the University of Porto and professionals from catering and education sectors will be invited to participate.
Results:
Data collection will take place between September 2017 and October 2017, corresponding to a 2-month intervention. Final results will be disseminated in scientific journals and presented at national and international conferences.
Conclusions:
The Food Allergy Community Program intervention may improve school and restaurant professionals’ commitment and skills to deal with food allergy in the community. Furthermore, this e-intervention program will provide an innovative contribution to understanding the impact of electronic health technologies on the learning process and the development of strategies for community interventions. Registered Report Identifier: RR1-10.2196/9770
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.