McKechnie AC, Elgersma KM, Ambrose MB, Sanchez Mejia AA, Shah KM, Iwaszko Wagner T, Trebilcock A, Hallock C. Nurse-guided Mobile Health Care Program to Reduce Emotional Distress Experienced by Parents of Infants Prenatally Diagnosed with Critical Congenital Heart Disease: A Pilot Study.
PROGRESS IN PEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGY 2024;
72:101687. [PMID:
38130374 PMCID:
PMC10732467 DOI:
10.1016/j.ppedcard.2023.101687]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Background
Following prenatal diagnosis of critical congenital heart disease (CCHD), parents encounter emotional distress while facing caregiving challenges. Supportive psycho-educational interventions using mobile health (mHealth) can make care more accessible.
Objectives
We tested a novel nurse-guided mHealth care program, Preparing Heart and Mind™ (PHM™), with the objectives of examining feasibility and estimating the effect of the intervention on parents' emotional distress.
Methods
This pilot study design randomized participants using a 2:1 intervention to control ratio. Analysis involved description of retention, and intervention attendance and engagement, and adjusted linear mixed models to estimate group differences in depressive (CES-D), anxiety (STAI-S), and traumatic stress (IES-r) symptoms.
Results
The sample included 55 parents (n=38 PHM™ group, n=17 control). Complete retention of 37 (67%) parents included 29 (76%) in the PHM™ group and 8 (47%) control. Most attrition was due to infant death (7 parents), transplant referral (2 parents), or postnatal diagnostic ineligibility (4 parents). For the PHM™ group, ≥96% of parents attended pre- and postnatal sessions and most (65%) messaged with the nurse. mHealth engagement was highest prenatally, with handling uncertainty the most viewed topic (average 94% pages viewed). In linear mixed models analyses, the PHM™ group had on average 4.84 points lower depression (95% CI: -10.68-1.04), 6.56 points lower anxiety (-14.04-0.92), and 6.28 points lower trauma (-14.44-1.88) scores by study end.
Conclusion
Findings suggest that a nurse-guided mHealth approach is feasible and may contribute to a clinically important reduction in parents' emotional distress.
Collapse