Parental knowledge and views of pediatric congenital heart disease.
BACKGROUND
Parental knowledge of their child's heart disease, while often overlooked, contributes to compliance and reduces anxiety. Prior studies have shown that 36% of parental diagnostic descriptions are incorrect.


OBJECTIVE
To assess parental knowledge and attitudes among outpatients at a hospital pediatric cardiology clinic.


METHODS
Seventy-four families completed a questionnaire in which they described their child's condition and stated their attitude towards dental hygiene and future prenatal diagnosis.


RESULTS
Eighteen percent of the parents failed to describe their child's malformation correctly. We found that parental understanding of the heart defect correlated with parental education. Future prenatal diagnosis was considered 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 ignorant about the condition tended to lack knowledge themselves. An additional finding was that 68% of Jewish families turn to non-medical personnel for 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 educated the parent, the more likely was the problem perceived incorrectly.
Beeri
M
M
Department of Pediatrics, Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopu, Israel.
Haramati
Z
Z
Rein
J J
JJ
Nir
A
A
D000032:Abortion, Therapeutic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000151:congenital* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007557:Israel; D007585:Jews / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology*; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires