Is there any difference in the scores of life quality between mothers of children with congenital heart diseases in need of cardiac surgery and mothers of healthy children?

Introduction: Congenital heart abnormalities are the most common type of congenital conditions in children. Annually,about 1 to 2 percent of children are born with these diseases. As chronic diseases, congenital conditions of children usuallycause limitations in the quality of their lives, especially if they are in need of frequent and complex surgical procedures. Regarding the role of parents, especially mothers, in the care of these children, their quality of life is of particular importance. This study, therefore,aimed to evaluate and compare the life quality of mothers with healthy children and mothers with children with a congenital heart disease in need of surgery. Methods: This research is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study, in which 100 mothers of healthy childrenand 60 mothers ofchildren with severe congenital heart disease – who were referred to Birjand Valiasr Hospital in 2017 –were entered into the study. The life quality of the mothers was assessed using the Life Quality Questionnaire of World Health Organization (WHOQOL-BREF). Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 22). P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: According to the findings of this study, the age means of the mothers with healthy children and that of mothers of children with congenital heart diseasewere 31.91±8.57 and 32.48±6.46 years, respectively. The mean score of life quality of motherswith healthy children was 71.25±16.43; it was 41.25±19.27 for mothers ofchildren with congenital heart diseases in need of surgery. Life quality and all its sub-scales (social relationships, mental health, environmental health and physical health) were significantly higher in mothers with healthy children than in mothers ofchildren with severe congenital heart diseases in need of surgery before operation(P <0.001). Conclusions: It was found that the life quality of mothers with children with severe congenital heart disease was significantly different from that ofmothers with healthy children. Therefore, in order to improve their quality of life, appropriate planning in different areas should be performed.