Knowledge and the attitudes of parents of children with diagnosed congenital heart disease

Introduction. Congenital heart diseases are the most numerous group of the circulatory system diseases in children. They belong to the
group of most frequent and most often diagnosed developmental defects. Despite fast and significant development of current cardiology
those congenital heart defects are still responsible for high mortality rate. Child’s disease affects the functioning of his/her entire family and
it leads to many changes and difficulties, especially of a psychological character. The parents of a child with diagnosed congenital heart
disease often experience strong emotions, which include anxiety related to life threatening condition, fear concerning parental competency
regarding taking care of their ill child, sadness and loneliness. Abovementioned emotions may also have an impact on child’s mental status.

Aim. The objective of this work was to analyze knowledge level and the attitudes of parents having children with diagnosed congenital
heart disease.

Material and methods. The study was conducted in January of 2006 in University Children’s Hospital in Cracow among parents of children
with congenital heart disease. It covered 49 full families and one single mother. The present study employs the questionnaire designed by
the authors of this work and questionnaire designed by Maria Ziemska, for analyzing the attitudes parents towards their children. The
analysis was carried out using the statistical methods such as test G and nonparametric test Kruskall–Wallis.

Results and conclusions. The obtained data reveals the parents´ insufficient knowledge about disease including possible complications,
treatment, pharmacological complications and lifestyle of their child. The results of the conducted analysis point to the fact that parents who were practicing the profession of teacher represent negative
attitudes in helplessness scale (100%), domination scale (50%) and exaggerated concentration on the child (50%).
Lack of knowledge among questioned mothers has an impact on developing negative attitudes in domination scale and distance scale. At
the same time having knowledge about disease favors formation of a desirable attitudes in helplessness scale.