PREVENTION OF THE SUDDEN-INFANT-DEATH-SYN DROME BY MONITORING

Effects on the emotional distress of afdicted parents. The present pap er focusses on the emotional distress that parents may experience duri ng their use of a monitor to prevent the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Since the parents are confronted with the risk of a life threa tening event, it is important to know more about influential and relie f factors to be able to contribute to the emotional support of parents . 229 parents of children whose siblings died of SIDS of children with an otherwise increased risk participated at the present questionnaire study. The results showed a lower emotional distress for parents with a previous SIDS experience than for parents confronted with an increa sed risk for other reasons. In general, the emotional distress was hig her for mothers than for fathers. During the monitoring interval there are only small changes of the emotional distress experienced by the p arents. The rate of false alarms leads to the highest impact on the em otional condition, while the highest relief results from a good qualit y of the monitoring instructions and From the knowledge thereby acquir ed by the parents. The significance of the results for the support of parents is evaluated and discussed.