Tentative development of a psychoeducational program for alleviating psychological burden of mothers of young children with milk allergy

Abstract

Cow’s milk allergy (CMA) is one of the most prevalent food allergy in young children. The first line strategy of patients with CMA is avoiding cow’s milk and milk products. Parents of children with CMA often hold heavy psychological burden and need accurate information to cope with it. The aim of this study is to develop a psychoeducational intervention program for mothers of children with milk allergy. The tentative psychoeducational intervention consisted of two components: provision of accurate information on CMA, and supportive group therapy focusing on problem-solving skills improvement. Verbatim comments described in a questionnaire indicated that the psychological burden of participating mothers was reduced and their mental health was improved as a result of the intervention, while maternal anxiety scale assessed about their children’s growth at the follow-up session was increased compared with that assessed before the program. It was suggested that our tentative psychoeducational program might have partially mitigated the psychological burden of mothers with children suffering from a milk allergy.