Enhancing Parental Coping with a Child's Heart Condition: A Co-production Pilot Study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Pediatrics
• Public Health

Background:

• Families of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) experience significant stress.
• Existing support systems may not adequately address the unique coping needs of these families.

Purpose of the Study:

• To pilot a manualized parental coping program co-produced with stakeholders.
• To assess the program's ability to attract high-needs families, enhance coping self-efficacy, and ensure parent acceptability.
• To investigate the program's impact on parental coping, parental stress, and general stress.

Main Methods:

• Two systematic literature reviews and parent interviews informed program development.
• A pilot study involving 21 parents of children with CHD.
• Pre-, post-program, and 6-month follow-up assessments of coping self-efficacy, coping styles, and stress levels.

Main Results:

• Parents in the study reported significantly higher stress levels than other parent carer groups.
• A significant increase in coping self-efficacy was observed from pre-program to post-program and 6-month follow-up.
• Significant improvement in the use of productive coping styles was noted post-program.

Conclusions:

• The co-produced parental coping program is highly acceptable and effective in enhancing coping self-efficacy and productive coping styles.
• The pilot provides evidence for upscaling the program, potentially combined with individualized psychological support.
• Co-production demonstrates a beneficial approach to developing targeted interventions for families facing pediatric chronic conditions.