Table 4.

Parents’ comments on characteristics of the curriculum.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CURRICULUM
Timing
▪… there should be almost layers of educational materials, there should be the one that’s for the parents who are about to be parents.
▪What I would like to see eventually… if you have a kid that you even suspect has a food allergy, maybe like a ‘kit’, like a welcome pack
▪I think timing is what’s so critical here. … the day you find out about the allergy you need all your emergency stuff
▪it would help parents if there could be an information packet for third parties [baby-sitter, daycare, school, summer camp, church, etc.]
Length and complexity
▪You can’t digest it all at once … you need something concrete to follow-up
▪…almost 2 months have gone by since her bad reaction … I really needed like the one pager
Format
▪[It should be organized] like a grid almost that if your child has this and this and so that the more likely to go this route
▪…for your child was just diagnosed packet or now what packet so you should be sort of layers. … break points.
▪it’s got to be also in plain enough language that people are really gonna understand how to implement it, whatever their education level is
▪for adults like booklets…[for teens] a web site …on my Space.
▪I don’t get to [use the Internet]. …. I don’t like computers at all … I’d rather read a book or it could be something in the mail.
Modes of distribution
▪There should be a pamphlet for new parents given by the doctor, the hospital or pediatrician;… like a first aid kit
▪What about the information package when you leave the hospital?... the NICU?
▪It has to be at the OB/GYN …. they gave me loads of sheets every single visit. There had been one where they said, you know, here are the many different signs of food allergy.
▪It just struck me, oh, a really big, uh, distribution point and I just realized, what about the HMO’s and managed care
▪… something else with a stamp of authority on it from [various well known academic centers], like some collaborative tool to teach parents… one central governmental source…