CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Vol 24, No 1, January/February 2013
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was higher (
p
<
0.05), and the levels of feeding anxiety significantly
decreased (
p
<
0.05) in the experimental group compared with the
control group. There was no statistical difference on HAZ, WAZ, and
WHZ between the two groups (
p
>
0.05).
Conclusion
: Taking the feeding intervention programme could
significantly enhance parents’ feeding knowledge, relieve their
feeding anxiety, and ameliorate feeding behaviour in the short term,
however, it failed to promote children’s postoperative catch-up
growth in the short term.
1011: TETRALOGY OF FALLOT POSTOPERATIVE
COMPLICATIONS AND NURSING
Yongmei Guan, Wenyi Luo, Lijuan Fu
Shanghai Children’s Medical Centre, China
Objective:
To provide evidence of clinical nursing care through
exploring and analysing the postoperative complications of tetralogy
of Fallot (TOF).
Method
s: This retrospective analysis was performed to select
patients under one year old who underwent TOF operations in our
hospital from January 2009 to December 2011, and to describe post-
operative complications of these patients.
Results:
Patients (556) with different postoperative complications
were selected into this study. The following complications: low
cardiac output syndrome, cardiac arrhythmia, ventilation-associated
pneumonia, atelectasis, hyoxaemia and pleural effusion ranked
among the top six, with prevalences of 3.7, 3.6, 3.1, 2.5, 2.0 and
1.8%, respectively.
Discussion:
This study highlights the main complications of infant
patients after TOF operation, provides evidence of the nursing care,
and guides nurses to take some preventive measures with these
patients.
1031: STORIES FROM THE HEART: A PROTOCOL FOR
INTERVIEWING CHILDREN WITH COMPLEX CONGENI-
TAL HEART DISEASE FROM EDMONTON, CANADA
Gwen Rempel
1
, Heather Ulmer
1
, Laura Rogers
1
, Kathleen Shearer
2
,
Sarah Southon
2
, Judy Dahl
2
, Lynne Ray
1
1
University of Alberta, Canada
2
Stollery Children’s Hospital, Alberta, Canada
Background:
Research to date on families and children living
with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) has largely involved
perspectives from caregivers and healthcare professionals, not the
children themselves. Also missing is the perspective of their siblings.
Children exposed to repeated invasive medical and surgical interven-
tions from an early age face significant morbidity and considerable
stress. The perspectives of these children are necessary to give direct
voice to their experiences and effectively plan for intervention.
Objective:
The purpose of this project was to identify evidence-
based strategies for interviewing children for the development of
an interview protocol to gain children’s perspectives on living with
complex CHD. The research question was: How can we best facilitate
children and their siblings to tell their stories about growing up with
CHD?
Findings:
A protocol was developed based upon literature reviews
regarding involving children in research. Key aspects of interviewing
children incorporated into the protocol included creating an atmos-
phere of trust and respect; obtaining consent, assent and maintaining
confidentiality; engagement through the participatory process; the
use of props and guiding questions to facilitate storytelling; and
strategies to reduce power inequities. The protocol was piloted with
children with complex CHD ranging in age from five to 15 years. The
final protocol consists of a diverse repertoire of interview activities
to elicit the stories of children as well as contact with parents before
and after the interview with the child.
Conclusion:
Hearing from children as they live with complex CHD
provides a voice for their experiences and needs. Their perspective
also helps clinicians and researchers in planning for family-based
interventions. This study provides valuable data regarding the
feasibility of obtaining data through stories with this population,
and further contributes to the methodological literature concerning
involving children with CHD in research.
1032: THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHILD AND FAMILY FUNC-
TIONING IN FAMILIES OF CHILDREN WITH COMPLEX
CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE: A PILOT STUDY
Gwen Rempel, Tamara Dorfman, Nicole Dahl, Laura Rogers, Joyce
Magill-Evans
University of Alberta, Canada
Background
: Parents play a critical role in optimal child develop-
ment and healthy family functioning. Children who survive their
complex congenital heart disease (CHD) live with chronic health
issues and can have motor and cognitive disabilities that present
parenting challenges. Understanding a range of parent perceptions
and family functioning is foundational to developing interventions
that optimise child, parent and family well-being.
Aim
: The purpose of this pilot study was to: (1) describe a cohort
of parents of children with CHD as per their parent and parenting
characteristics (i.e. family management style, resilience and parent-
ing stress), and their perceptions of their child with CHD [i.e. child’s
development, adaptive behaviours, and health-related quality of life
(HRQOL)], (2) identify trends through the analysis of individual
family profiles, and (3) determine if the questionnaires were effective
in identifying the potential intervention needs of parents.
Findings
: Questionnaires were sent to 24 families, with a total of 16
families responding. The mean age of the children with CHD was
7.1 years. Most family management styles were child/family focused.
A significant difference on the resilience score was found between
mothers and fathers. There was a large range in parenting stress, from
within a normal range for total stress to a clinically significant range.
The mean scores on all indexes of child development and adaptive
behaviour were within the normal range. Regarding HRQOL, all
children scored poorly on the dimensions of heart problems and
treatment, treatment anxiety, and communication. Family profiles
indicated higher parenting stress, lower resiliency scores, and a
condition-focused family management style in families with a child
with more co-morbidities, greater developmental needs, and sub-
optimal HRQOL.
Conclusion
: Results indicate a range of parent and parenting charac-
teristics. The questionnaires were effective in delineating the needs of
parents at different stages of a child’s CHD trajectory.
1034:WHATARE THE TIMING, SETTING, AND NATURE OF
PARENT INTERVENTIONS FOR MOTHERS AND FATHERS
OF CHILDREN WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE: A
SCOPING REVIEW
Gwen Rempel, Louisa Fricker
University of Alberta, Canada
Background
: Evidence of the plight of parents of children with
congenital heart disease (CHD) has been published since soon after
the first successful cardiac surgery programmes were established in
the 1950s. Mothers have been the predominant source of parental
data. Maternal anxiety, fear, stress and uncertainty have been shown
to influence child outcomes, although not in proportion to disease
severity. Within this growing body of descriptive research there are
repeated recommendations for parental interventions. The research
question guiding this scoping review was: What are the timing,
setting, and nature of parental interventions for mothers and fathers
of children with CHD?
Methods
: A scoping review was conducted with 707 articles identi-
fied from six bibliographic databases. Two reviewers independently
screened articles by title and abstract for inclusion in the review.
Results
: Thirteen articles representing 12 intervention studies from
