Brief ReportMedical information concerning an infant's congenital anomaly: Successful communication to support parental adjustment and transition
Section snippets
Participants and procedures
This study was approved by the Ethics Committees of the Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra and Centro Hospitalar de Coimbra, Portugal. Inclusion criteria for the study included: having an infant who was prenatally- or postnatally diagnosed with a CA, being at least 18 years of age and having a level of literacy that permitted comprehension of the assessment protocol. Data collection occurred between September 2009 and February 2012. Approximately one month after the disclosure of the
Parents' perception of information concerning the CA
Table 2 presents results concerning parents' perceptions of information about the CA. Most parents had never heard about the CA prior to the disclosure, and among those who had heard about the CA, information levels were similarly low for both genders (Z = −.79, p = .432).
At the disclosure, mothers were significantly more satisfied than fathers with the amount of information given by health professionals, but no differences were found concerning comprehension levels, which were moderately high
Discussion
Our findings support the important role of information about the CA for Portuguese parents and are innovative because they highlight the following: a) gender differences in the perceptions of information about the CA, with mothers being significantly more satisfied than their partners with the information that is given at the disclosure (but not six-months post-birth); b) the differential impact of the information perceptions on both parents' individual adjustment at the disclosure of the
Conclusions
Health professionals should recognize the important role of information concerning the CA in parental adjustment and tailor their communication practices in order to promote parents' satisfaction and comprehension of the medical information. In fact, some specific clinical implications can be derived from the findings of this exploratory study. First, health professionals should include both mothers and fathers in the process of communicating information about the CA. Prior studies have
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the services that enabled the sample collection: Pediatric Cardiology Service of the Pediatric Hospital – Centro Hospitalar de Coimbra (parents of babies with congenital heart disease) and the Obstetrics and Neonatology Departments – Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra (the remaining participants from the clinical and comparison groups).
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This study is part of the “Reproductive decisions and transition to parenthood after a pre- or postnatal diagnosis of congenital anomaly” research project, integrated in the Relationships, Development & Health Research Group of the R&D Unit Cognitive-Behavioral Center for Research and Intervention of the University of Coimbra (PEst-OE/PSI/UI0730/2014). Ana Fonseca and Bárbara Nazaré were supported by PhD Scholarships from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/47053/2008, SFRH/BD/43204/2008, respectively).
Conflict of interest/financial disclosure: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. Although Ana Fonseca and Bárbara Nazaré were supported by PhD scholarships, there is no relation between the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the subject of this research work.