Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Young People from Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in the UK

This group of YP shared many commonalities with other adolescents with IBD. However their ethnicity did raise some specific challenges: Nearly half the sample had parents with limited proficiency in English. A lack of culturally appropriate information about IBD seriously impacted on parents' understanding of the illness. As a result, this lessened their ability to provide valuable support and advocacy to their children, which increased stress for several of the participants. Around two-thirds of the sample experienced difficulties in tolerating the spicy nature of food which is typical of traditional Asian and Black cuisines. This impacted on daily life and on yp ability to be part of their cultural communities which value the social importance of sharing food. Experiences were compounded by culturally-specific societal norms, such as respect for elders, and by a lack of familiarity with IBD. Other issues identified, but which were not specifically related to ethnicity, were in-school management of the condition and delays in diagnosis or misdiagnosis.