title: The experience of a broken heart.
abstract: Infants who have congenital heart disease (CHD) are born with a "broken heart." Health care professionals are presented with the challenge of caring for the infant's physiologically defective heart as well as the emotional heart of the parents as they begin to accept this diagnosis. This study allowed parents to share this experience through phenomenology as an inquiry approach. These descriptions will assist in providing a more complete and deeper understanding of the parent's experience of CHD. Thus, all will know "the experience of a broken heart."
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Health Nursing, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, 3624 Glen Way, Eau Claire, WI 54701, USA. rfernan9@aol.com
authors.forename: Jill Renee Hecker
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Fernandes
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D017283:Neonatal Nursing / Q000379:methods; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D035502:Trust