ABSTRACT
Background: Since 2019 the National Allergy Strategy (NAS) 250K youth project has run annual camps to support school-aged teens living with severe allergies. In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic presented several challenges for conducting camps. To reduce the risk of potential COVID-19 exposure, the NAS conducted a 250K fun day for school-aged teens, supported by local peer mentors, staff and volunteers. This study compares confidence levels for a range of allergy based self-management indicators, between the fun day and camp offerings. Method: The 250K fun day was held in Perth, Western Australia, in February 2021. Perth-based NAS staff and volunteer health professionals attended. School-aged teens and peer mentors from Perth were invited to participate. Several meetings with volunteers and catering staff were held prior. Findings: Fourteen school-aged teens with severe allergies and 1 peer mentor participated in the fun day, and 14 school-aged teens and 8 peer mentors participated in the 2020 camp. Confidence levels were measured using a participant survey. Table 1 provides a comparison of the results of the 2021 fun day and the 2020 camp. Conclusion: The 250K fun day helped connect young people with food allergy. The fun day as a one-day event substantially improved confidence levels in allergy self-management, however, did not increase confidence to the same level as the 2020 camp. Should COVID-19 continue to restrict access to camps, the fun day model represents a good option to engage youth and still provide significant benefit to participants.