Table 4 Qualitative themes, summary statement, codes and supporting quotations related to Theme 3: “Food allergy could be a more prominent conversation” for teachers, staff and administration to “debunk the myths”
Theme description: This theme encompasses the lack of consistency and standardization of allergy education for teachers, staff and administration between private schools, public schools, public schools within the same school divisions, and classrooms within same school. This includes the Unified Referral and Intake System (URIS) education and other (if any) training for staff. | |
Codes | Supporting Quotes |
Teachers’ acceptability of current training | We only do [training] once a year and if you’re not here, you miss it, you get sent the video that they record. […] I feel like that […] people are kind of missing out sometimes. (T7) [Food allergy could be] a more prominent conversation […] at the beginning of the school year when we get our new kids. […] You’re in your in your first two weeks of school and that’s a crazy time for teacher. And you’re staying after school for this [provincial] training. It just seems like they’re not placing the proper emphasis on [training] ‘cause it is very important. So you can go through the whole year and be like, “That was great, I had my training. I was prepared if something happens.” But nothing happens. So maybe that’s why I felt fine. Right, like if something were to happen mid-year, would I still feel comfortable and remember how to use an [auto-injector] type thing? (T20) We had to watch a video in terms of how to inject [EAI], they don’t talk about what the allergies are and how it works. They talk about what to do if you get a reaction. And that’s pretty much the extent to where they go. (T16) |
URIS program | We have [URIS training] at the beginning of the year. In our division, we have the URIS nurse that comes and speaks to us, but that’s not before we see our kids, it’s usually a few weeks after we see our kids. (T20) I learned what to do if somebody was to have a reaction. I didn’t really learn about what causes [reactions] or what does it mean to have a peanut allergy. (T16) COVID has actually changed the way URIS looks this year. So URIS group B looks different this year for standard healthcare plans because they have the URIS nurses on, but they’ve been redeployed but I think they’re gently coming back to the URIS program because uh COVID is stabilizing (17) |
Resource needs | I’m just wondering if kids you know, from all different grades, from all different classrooms, from all different parents whether they’re [families for whom English is an additional language] or not… Do they have those resources to talk to their kids to make sure they’re being vocal and confident about their food allergy? (T8) If there were more kid-friendly ones or family-friendly ones that I could try and I think that could definitely help me having to maybe micromanage less (T2) |