Parental knowledge and views of pediatric congenital heart disease

Citation
M. Beeri et al., Parental knowledge and views of pediatric congenital heart disease, ISR MED ASS, 3(3), 2001, pp. 194-197
Citations number
13
Categorie Soggetti
General & Internal Medicine
Journal title
ISRAEL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL
ISSN journal
15651088 → ACNP
Volume
3
Issue
3
Year of publication
2001
Pages
194 - 197
Database
ISI
SICI code
1565-1088(200103)3:3<194:PKAVOP>2.0.ZU;2-1
Abstract
Background: Parental knowledge of their child's heart disease, while often overlooked, contributes to compliance and reduces anxiety. Prior studies ha ve shown that 36% of parental diagnostic descriptions are incorrect. Objectives: To assess parental knowledge and attitudes among outpatients at a hospital pediatric cardiology clinic. Methods: Seventy-four families completed a questionnaire in which they desc ribed their child's condition and stated their attitude towards dental hygi ene and future prenatal diagnosis. Results: Eighteen percent of the parents failed to describe their child's m alformation correctly. We found that parental understanding of the heart de fect correlated with parental education. Future prenatal diagnosis was cons idered by 88% of families, and termination of pregnancy by 40%, Only 40% of children were aware of their heart problem. Children of parents who were i gnorant about the condition tended to lack knowledge themselves. An additio nal finding was that 68% of Jewish families turn to non-medical personnel f or medical advice - an interesting finding not hitherto addressed. Conclusions: ignorance of their child's problem did not correlate with its severity or complexity but rather with parental background: the less educat ed the parent, the more likely was the problem perceived incorrectly.