The Quality of Life of Mothers of Children with Congenital Heart Diseases: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Congenital Heart Diseases (CHD) is the commonest of all congenital defects and the highest prevalence is reported in Asia which is 9.3 per 1,000 live-births. Having a child with CHD may cause high level of stress and very poor quality of life (QOL) for their parents and it will directly affect the wellbeing of the child. Objective: To determine the QOL of mothers of children with CHD Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 75 mothers, who seek treatments for a child with CHD at the cardiology clinic, Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Sri Lanka. The World Health Organization QOL (WHOQOL)-BREF was used to measure the QOL. Data were analysed according to the WHOQOL-BREF manual using descriptive statistics. IBM SPSS version 25 was used as the statistical analysis tool. Results: Nearly two-thirds of mothers of children with CHD (64%) belonged to 30–39 age group. The majority were Sinhalese (85.7%) and Buddhists (73.3%). Of the participants, 52% had received education up to the senior secondary level and 57.3% were not engaged in any paid work. Only 29% of mothers found to have good overall QOL. Physical and social relationship domains of QOL were good among 55% and 43% of mothers respectively. The psychological and environmental domains were good only in 32% and 28% of mothers respectively. Conclusions: Overall QOL among most of the mothers of children with CHD were poor. Psychological and environmental domains affected more than the other two domains. Interventions to improve the QOL of the mothers of children with CHD by focusing on the psychological and environmental domains need to be implemented.