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Updated: Dec 12, 2025

Implantation of Total Artificial Heart in Congenital Heart Disease
Published on: July 18, 2014
Supporting parenting during infant hospitalisation for CHD
Colette Gramszlo1, Allison Karpyn2, Jennifer Christofferson3
1Division of Behavioral Health, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE, USA.
Insights
Parents of infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) prioritize bonding, their parental role, and coping with uncertainty during hospitalization. Care teams should support these priorities for better family adjustment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Cardiology
- Developmental Psychology
- Family Medicine
Background:
- Infant hospitalization for congenital heart disease (CHD) presents unique challenges to parental roles and bonding.
- Understanding parental priorities is crucial for developing effective support strategies during this stressful period.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the parenting priorities of mothers and fathers of infants hospitalized with CHD.
- To generate recommendations for supporting parenting during infant hospitalization.
Main Methods:
- Online crowdsourcing and community creation via a private social networking site.
- Qualitative analysis of responses from 79 parents of young children with CHD.
Main Results:
- Three key themes emerged: establishing a bond with the infant, asserting the parental role, and coping with fear and uncertainty.
- Parents highly value provider support in maintaining a sense of normalcy during hospitalization.
Conclusions:
- Care teams can enhance parenting support by affirming parents' roles as primary caretakers and decision-makers.
- Addressing the emotional impact of infant hospitalization on the family is essential for holistic care.
Objective:
To characterise the parenting priorities of mothers and fathers of infants hospitalised with CHD and generate recommendations to support parenting during infant hospitalisation.
Study Design:
Through online crowdsourcing, an innovative research methodology to create an online community to serve as a research sample, 79 parents of young children with CHD responded to questions about parenting during hospitalisation via private social networking site. Responses were analysed using qualitative research methods.
Results:
Three broad themes were identified: (1) establishing a bond with my baby, (2) asserting the parental role, and (3) coping with fear and uncertainty. Parents value provider support in restoring normalcy to the parenting experience during infant hospitalisation.
Conclusions:
Care teams can support parenting during infant hospitalisation by promoting parents' roles as primary caretakers and decision-makers and attending to the emotional impact of infant hospitalisation on the family.
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