Distress levels in Turkish parents of children with congenital heart disease

Objective The purpose of this research was to determine the distress levels of parents of children with congenital heart disease and identify factors that influenced the levels of distress. Design The research used a cross‐sectional, descriptive study design. Setting The setting was a Paediatric Cardiology Outpatient Clinic at a university hospital in Erzurum, Turkey. Subject The subjects for the research were 262 parents (130 fathers and 132 mothers) of 147 children with congenital heart disease. Main outcome measure The Symptom Check List (SCL‐ 90‐R), developed by Derogatis (1997) was used to measure parents’ distress. Results Mothers had higher scores than fathers on all distress dimensions (somatisation 1.17 ± 0.43; anxiety 1.78 ± 0.52; depression 1.54 ± 0.50 ‐ p<0.001). Additionally, the intensity of distress for both mothers and fathers increased with the severity of the child’s disease. Conclusion Parents were seriously affected by the illness of their children. Parents (especially mothers) of children with congenital heart disease should receive psychological and emotional support from health professionals for distress stemming from parenting a child with special needs.