Iran Journal of Nursing

Background & Aims Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of congenital disorders in children, imposing a caregiving burden and psychological pressure on their families, consequently affecting their quality of life. Given that parents are the primary caregivers for these children, this study aims to investigate the interventions for improving the quality of life (QOL) for parents of children with CHD.
Materials & Methods In this scoping review, conducted by the five-step methodology of Arksey and O’Malley and the PRISMA for scoping reviews checklist, a comprehensive search for relevant clinical trials was conducted in online databases, including SID, MagIran, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, without time restrictions using the keywords such as “Quality of Life”, “Congenital heart disease”, and “Parents” in English and Persian.
Results The initial search yielded 207 articles. After removing duplicates, 145 remained. Considering inclusion and exclusion criteria and after reading the titles and abstracts, 6 articles were finally selected for the review. The types of interventions included telehealth monitoring, face-t-face or online education and follow-up, and psychosocial interventions. The majority of the studies reported that the interventions were effective in improving the QOL for parents. Online education and follow-up using the messaging applications such as WhatsApp, or face-t-face educational sessions, were found to be effective in improving the QOL for parents. However, one study using psychosocial intervention and the other study using telehealth home monitoring along with education and follow-up using email, SMS, phone calls, or video conference, did not found an enhancement in parental QOL.
Conclusion The review of previous studies indicates that, in designing interventions for improving the QOL for parents of CHD children, the use of educational materials and the inclusion of adaptive and coping strategies is essential. It is better to initiate psychosocial interventions before surgery. Overall, there is a lack of studies in this field, with the majority focusing on education and follow-up. Further studies are recommended to assess the effectiveness of new interventions in improving the QOL of the parents of CHD children, such as mindfulness-based treatments and other psychotherapies.