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Updated: May 27, 2026

Basophil Activation Test for Allergy Diagnosis
Published on: May 31, 2021
Development and validation of educational materials for food allergy
Scott H Sicherer1, Perla A Vargas, Marion E Groetch
1Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. scott.sicherer@mssm.edu
Objective:
To develop and validate a food allergy educational program.
Study Design:
Materials developed through focus groups and parental and expert review were submitted to 60 parents of newly referred children with a prior food allergy diagnosis and an epinephrine autoinjector. The main outcome was correct demonstration of an autoinjector.
Results:
The correct number of autoinjector activation steps increased from 3.4 to 5.95 (of 6) after training (P < .001) and was 5.47 at 1 year (P < .05). The mean score for comfort with using the autoinjector (7-point Likert scale) before the curriculum was 4.63 (somewhat comfortable) and increased to 6.23 after the intervention (P < .05) and remained elevated at 1 year (6.03). Knowledge tests (maximum 15) increased from a mean score of 9.2 to 12.4 (P < .001) at the initial visit and remained at 12.7 at 1 year. The annualized rate of allergic reactions fell from 1.77 (historical) the year prior, to 0.42 (P < .001) after the program. On a 7-point Likert scale, all satisfaction categories remained above a favorable mean score of 6: straight-forward, organized, interesting, relevant, and recommend to others.
Conclusions:
This food allergy educational curriculum for parents, now available online at no cost, showed high levels of satisfaction and efficacy.
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