Stress and Coping among the Parents of Children with Congenital HeartDisease: A Hospital Based Study

Abstract

Introduction: Congenital heart defects are the most common, pervasive and serious chronic illness of all congenital malformations. The birth of a child can be stressful enough for many parents, turn into one of dashed joy and feeling of distress so there may be necessary for parents to obtain enough support from health professionals. Methods: A descriptive Correlational study was conducted among 142 parents of children with Congenital Heart Disease attending Pediatric Medical Out Patient Department in Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center, Bansbari, Kathmandu. Data were collected using pre-tested structured interview schedule in Nepali version. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (chi-square and Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation). Results: The findings of the study revealed that near about three forth (71.8%) of parents had moderately level of stress whereas 28.2% had low level of stress and 79.6% had moderately helpful level of coping and 20.4% had minimally helpful level of coping. There was negative correlation between stress and coping (r=-0.076 and p-value=0.367) of parents. There were no any statistical association between socio-demographic characteristics of parents and stress level. Similarly, there were statistically significant association of level of coping with relationship with child, religion and occupation of parents (p-value 0.004, 0.002 and 0.005) respectively. Conclusion: The study concluded that with increased level of stress, there is decreased level of coping among the parents. Further, the findings suggest that health personnel must assess parenting stress at each visit to provide appropriate support and anticipatory guidance to families of children with Congenital Heart Disease.