Stress level and associated factors among parents having a child with congenital heart disease less than six years of age attending the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for children

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Parents of children with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) are easy victims of psychological ill-health. Assessment of stress level and its associated factors among them is vital to recognize high risk parents and to prevent them from becoming psychologically ill persons so that planning long term care for children for better outcome is feasible. OBJECTIVES: To determine the level of stress and associated factors among parents who are having children with congenital heart disease less than six years of age attending the cardiology clinic at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for children (LRH). METHOD: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 380 parents of children with congenital heart disease less than six years of age attending the cardiology clinic at LRH, using an interviewer administered questionnaire based on the parental stress scale, perceived stress scale and the cardiologists’ perception on the medical severity scale. RESULTS: In the unemployed female predominate sample, the mean score on the parental stress scale was 29.95 (SD 7.3), while the mean score on the perceived stress scale was 14.37 (SD 5.1). Parental stress level was significantly higher with advanced age of parents and children, poor parental knowledge on CHDs and presence of extra cardiac deformities (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Parents of children with CHDs are experiencing varying degrees of stress levels which are related to their age, age of the child, knowledge on CHDs and co-existing genetic disorders. When long term care for children with CHDs is planned, these parent related factors should be considered for better outcome.