Healthy lifestyle in 0–6-year-old children's parents with food and non-food allergy

Background

Health lifestyle behaviors of parents with food and non-food allergic children are not well understood.

Objective

This study aimed to examine the difference between healthy lifestyle behaviors of parents of 0–6-year-old children with food allergies and non-food allergies.

Methods

This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted with the parents of 153 allergic children admitted to Aydin Obstetrics, Gynecology and Child Diseases Hospital between October 2022 and March 2023. “Personal Information Form” and “Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II” were used to collect data and analyzed using Mann-Whitney-U, chi-square test, Student-t test.

Results

The mean total score of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II was 135.4 ± 19.5 for parents of food allergic children and 139.1 ± 24.1 for parents of non-food allergic children. There was no significant difference between the total scores of the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II between the parents of allergic children (t = −1.048, P > 0.05). While there was no significant difference in terms of the other subscales of the questionnaire, the physical activity subscale mean score of parents of children with non-food allergies was higher than those with food allergies (t = −1.986, P = 0.049). Child's age, parental education level, and family history were found to be significant factors in the development of food allergies (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

While there was no difference in the healthy lifestyle behaviors of parents with food allergic and non-food allergic children, it was concluded that parents with non-food allergic children had better lifestyles only for the “Physical Activity” subscale. It may be recommended that healthcare professionals should give importance to this issue to improve the healthy lifestyle of individuals in vulnerable groups.