Parenting After Infant Congenital Heart Defect Diagnosis

Congenital Heart Disease Clinical Trial

Official title:

Parenting After Infant Congenital Heart Defect Diagnosis

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01503307
• Other study ID #: CHW 08/160
• Secondary ID: GC 728
• Status: Completed
• Start date: January 2009
• Est. completion date: July 2016

Study information

• Verified date: October 2019
• Source: Medical College of Wisconsin
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this research study is to learn about parents' experiences following diagnosis of a fetal/neonatal Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). Nurses, physicians, and other health-care clinicians will benefit from an improved understanding of what the diagnosis means to parents and what they expect concerning the infant, being a parent, and caregiving tasks and responsibilities. The investigators expect that the knowledge gained will increase clinicians' ability to respond to parents' needs.

Description:

Parental mental health status is linked to the development and quality of caregiving, as well as physiological and psychosocial outcomes for the infant/child with a heart defect.

This is an evolving population of parents with most challenged prenatally with a fetal diagnosis and later as caregivers for medically complex infants. Parents with pre- and postnatally diagnosed infants are at risk for sub-optimal mental health. Parents' experiences and needs differ by timing of diagnosis.

Several gaps in the literature exist. First, advances in technology raise questions about how becoming a caregiver is experienced considering the timing of the diagnosis. Second, little is known about how the timing of the diagnosis could influence parents' mental health status and caregiving after diagnosis. Finally, more study is needed to identify the type, timing and duration of intervention to support these parents as caregivers and optimize their infants' health.

Data collected for this study included demographic and health information (from parents and infant health records), measures of distress (symptoms of depression, anxiety and trauma), and interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents in person in the hospital and home settings. Interviews with each couple in the prenatally diagnosed group were conducted once during the third trimester of pregnancy and once within 12 weeks after birth. Interviews with each couple or mother in the postnatally diagnosed group were conducted once within 12 weeks after birth. Interviews lasted 1-3 hours, were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. Field notes were also written and audio recorded for use in analysis.

Directed content analysis has been used to describe parents' experiences and caregiving motivations in relation to parental distress and severity of infant illness. Analysis of data is ongoing. Additional analyses are expected to further improve knowledge on the differing needs of parents of pre- and postnatally diagnosed infants, as well as parents' experiences and caregiving motivations in the context of discharge from tertiary care.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 23
• Est. completion date: July 2016
• Est. primary completion date: July 2016
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A to 12 Weeks

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria for Parents:

• at least 18 years old

• English speaking and reading

• not known to have a mental illness or cognitive deficit

Inclusion Criteria for Infant:

• prenatal or postnatal diagnosis of a complex CHD that requires surgical repair or palliation early in the infant's life (i.e., tetralogy of Fallot, atrial-ventricular canal, ventricular septal defect, pulmonary stenosis, tricuspid atresia, hypoplastic right or left heart, or other complex condition). Infants will not be excluded if they also have congenital syndromes or extra-cardiac defects.

Exclusion Criteria:

• no CHD diagnosis

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Congenital Heart Disease
• Heart Defects, Congenital
• Heart Diseases

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of Wisconsin Madison	Madison	Wisconsin
United States	Children's Hospital of Wisconsin	Milwaukee	Wisconsin

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Medical College of Wisconsin	Children's Hospital and Health System Foundation, Wisconsin, University of Minnesota, MN, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Creation of a typology of perinatal internal working models of parenting in congenital heart disease.	Qualitative analysis of interviews.	1 year
Secondary	Parent outcomes	Impact of Event Scale - Stress Reactions Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale - Depression State-Trait Anxiety Inventory - Anxiety	1 year