Challenging Allergies: The Search for a Magic Bullet for Pediatric Food Allergies

项目总结 该项目建议进行实证研究，并出版一本关于医学化和药剂化的学术书籍。 食物过敏的钙化。每13名美国儿童中就有一名对食物过敏，其中近一半 儿童对多种食物过敏。因为食物过敏可能会危及生命， 已经投入了大量的生物医学研究和开发来寻找有效的治疗方法。这些小说 治疗选择-包括最近FDA批准的一种药物，一系列临床试验，甚至是 受监管的以食品为基础的治疗-吸引了父母相当大的兴趣，尽管潜在的信号- 巨大的风险。事实上，初步研究表明，父母通常对 将这些治疗的风险与食品的风险进行比较。 我目前正在完成一项花生过敏临床试验的人种学研究，以及拟议的项目 将通过三个具体目标扩大和延续这一学术书籍的研究方向：(1)前- 谈谈患有花生或其他食物过敏儿童的父母的经历和看法 未进行临床试验，(2)记录如何提供不受监管的食物过敏治疗 通过私人实践，以及(3)将目标1和目标2的经验结果与我目前的种族- 食物过敏临床试验参与图解。对于目标1，我将进行30次面谈，标准杆- (A)在不进行额外治疗的情况下避免其子女的食物过敏原，(B) 用FDA批准的药物治疗孩子的花生过敏，或(C)治疗孩子的食物 对不受管制的疗法的过敏。对于目标2，我将对提供以下建议的临床医生进行10次访谈 不受监管的食物过敏治疗，以分析他们如何描述自己的做法，包括- 检查他们制定的任何安全协议。这本书的手稿将作为目标3的一部分撰写，其中 我将使用这两个项目的数据来提供对食物过敏疗法的全面看法。 拟议中的项目意义重大，因为它将提供有关美国家庭如何使用海军的丰富信息。 盖茨食物过敏是日常生活的一部分，也是一种越来越有理由冒险的疾病-- 委婉的干预。这个项目是创新的，因为食物过敏疗法还没有被研究过 从批判性社会科学的角度来看，还没有实证研究比较每个人-- 父母选择不同的医疗途径来管理孩子的食物过敏或 比较利益相关者如何看待FDA批准的、研究的和 不受监管的食物过敏治疗。食物过敏当然是一种健康威胁，但这个食物的新时代 过敏疗法标志着一种转变，在这一转变中，这种情况变得更加严重和有问题 接受医疗治疗。

PROJECT SUMMARY This project proposes empirical research and a scholarly book on the medicalization and pharmaceuti- calization of food allergies. One out of every 13 US children has a food allergy, and nearly half of those children are allergic to multiple foods. Because food allergies can be life-threatening, a significant amount of biomedical research and development has been invested in finding effective therapies. These novel therapeutic options—including one recent FDA-approved drug, an array of clinical trials, and even un- regulated food-based treatments—have attracted considerable parental interest despite potentially sig- nificant risks. Indeed, preliminary research indicates that parents often have a higher tolerance for the risks of these medical treatments compared to the risks from food. I am currently completing an ethnographic study of peanut allergy clinical trials, and the proposed project will expand and continue this line of research for the scholarly book through three specific aims: (1) ex- plore the experiences and perceptions of parents of children with peanut or other food allergies who have not pursued clinical trials, (2) document how unregulated food allergy treatments are being offered through private practices, and (3) integrate empirical findings from Aims 1 & 2 with my current ethno- graphic work on food allergy clinical trial participation. For Aim 1, I will conduct 30 interviews with par- ents who are (a) practicing avoidance of their children's food allergens with no additional treatment, (b) treating their children's peanut allergy with the FDA-approved drug, or (c) treating their children's food allergies with unregulated therapies. For Aim 2, I will conduct 10 interviews with clinicians who offer unregulated food-based treatments for food allergies to analyze how they describe their practices, includ- ing any safety protocols they have in place. The book manuscript will be written as part of Aim 3, wherein I will use data from both projects to provide a comprehensive view of food allergy therapeutics. The proposed project is significant because it will provide rich information about how US families navi- gate food allergies as a part of everyday life as well as a condition that increasingly justifies risky thera- peutic interventions. This project is innovative because food allergy therapeutics have not been examined from a critical social science perspective, and there has been no empirical research comparing the per- spectives of parents who choose different medical pathways to manage their children's food allergies or comparing how stakeholders perceive potential differences between FDA-approved, investigational, and unregulated food allergy treatments. Food allergies are certainly a health threat, but this new era of food allergy therapeutics marks a transition in which the condition is being more intensely and problematically medicalized.