Stressors Facing Mothers having Children with Congenital Heart Diseases

Background: Congenital Heart Diseases (CHDs) are the most common congenitalmalformation in children. Mothers having children with congenital heart diseasesare facing unique challenges and experience significant stressors., which are eitherphysical, psychological or social. Aim: The study aimed to investigate the stressorsfacing mothers having children with CHD. Setting: The study was conducted at thecardiology clinics of Alexandria University Children’s Hospitals (AUCH) at Smouhaand at El-Shatby. Sample: A convenient sample of 150 mothers who had childrenwith CHD constituted the sample. Tool: Stressors facing mothers having childrenwith congenital heart disease structured interview schedule was the tool used tocollect the data, and it consisted of two parts: characteristics of mothers and theirchildren as well as medical data of children and stressors facing mothers whichincluded physical, psychological, social, financial stressors and stressors associatedwith child treatment. Every mother was interviewed individually. Results: Physicalstressors were the highest stressors facing the mothers (Mean percent 99.5%),followed by financial stressors (mean percent 86,1%), stressors associated withtreatment (mean percent 83.2%), social stressors (mean percent 78.5%), andpsychological stressors (mean percent 71.0%). Statistically significant differenceswere found between mothers’ social stressors and their age, type of the family andchildren birth order. Also, there were significance differences between physicalstressors and mothers’ level of education, children’s age and birth order.Conclusion: The highest stressors facing the mothers were the physical stressorswhile psychological stressors were the least stressors reported by the mothers.Recommendations: Pediatric nurses must have an active role in reducing thestressors of the mothers of children with CHD through guiding and supporting themfrom the time of diagnosis. Establishment of group psychotherapy for mothers havingchildren with CHD to share other mothers’ feelings, recommendations, and exchangeexperiences.