Family acceptance of home apnea monitors

Home monitoring for apnea patients has been called a stressful situation for family members. A 28-item questionnaire was used to ascertain the impact of home monitoring on the families of children with infantile apnea. Forty of 71 families returned the questionnaire. The majority of respondents felt the stress of home monitoring to be minimal (42.5%) to moderate (37.5%). All respondents favored home monitoring with 80% of parents reporting that the monitor had alerted them to at least one significant apnea or bradycardia episode during the first month of use. Half of parents reported more than five significant alarms in the first month of use. Financial hardship on the family was reported to be minimal. A few parents related significant strain on marital and other sibling-parent relationships. Concerns most commonly voiced were mechanical problems (70%), difficulty in locating qualified and willing babysitters (62.5%), and desire for more concrete information from the physician regarding the child's medical problem (40.0%). These results confirm good acceptance of home monitors by the family and offer direction in dealing with the families' primary concerns.