Psychological preparation of mothers of preschool children undergoing cardiac catheterization

Recommendations for Preparing Children and Adolescents for Invasive Cardiac Procedures

“…9,63 Parents can provide positive reinforcement for coping strategies, act as supportive role models, and may function as "coaches" for cognitive behavioral interventions, such as relaxation exercises. 7,8 Thus, engagement of parents in the preparation process is effective and offers practical benefits that are particularly important given the limitations of available preparation resources. Interventions aimed at facilitating parental coping are anticipated to be of particular importance for younger children (ie, preschoolers) because of their limited ability to use internal coping strategies.…”

“…55,57,59,60 Interventions aimed at addressing parental concerns regarding children's hospitalizations have been effective in decreasing parental anxiety and enhancing child behavioral outcomes. 8,50 Active parental participation in the preprocedure process also enhances the efficacy of a variety of preprocedure preparation methods, including preprocedure class, peermodeling videotapes, or brief explanations by nurses. 49,61,62 Parent education regarding the sequence of events, sensory experiences, role expectations, typical child responses, and previews of procedures through play techniques decreases stress-related behaviors in children undergoing heart catheterization 8 and surgery.…”

“…8,50 Active parental participation in the preprocedure process also enhances the efficacy of a variety of preprocedure preparation methods, including preprocedure class, peermodeling videotapes, or brief explanations by nurses. 49,61,62 Parent education regarding the sequence of events, sensory experiences, role expectations, typical child responses, and previews of procedures through play techniques decreases stress-related behaviors in children undergoing heart catheterization 8 and surgery. 9,63 Parents can provide positive reinforcement for coping strategies, act as supportive role models, and may function as "coaches" for cognitive behavioral interventions, such as relaxation exercises.…”

“…Assessment of the child and parents/caregivers can occur in the context of either a long-standing outpatient relationship with the cardiovascular team or a newly developed relationship that is primarily procedure focused. In either situation, key areas to assess and explore with families are (1) the child's developmental level and coping style; (2) the patient's and caregivers' understanding of the medical condition and planned procedure; (3) previous hospital experiences, particularly adverse ones; (4) current emotional, cognitive, and physical symptoms and perceived health of the patient; (5) general and procedure-specific fears; (6) family composition, including language, cultural, and religious factors; (7) the method in which information is best processed by the patient and the caregivers (ie, verbal, visual, written, sensory); (8) other family stressors (ie, financial, transportation, social, and other health issues affecting family member); and (9) family/ caretaker coping styles and modes of decision-making.…”

“…In addition, children may be particularly vulnerable to the stress associated with invasive medical procedures; several studies document frequent and persistent severe distress reactions after aversive hospital experiences. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Although numerous studies document the efficacy of psychological preprocedure preparation for children and adolescents, [7][8][9][10][11][12] implementation of these interventions remains inconsistent. 13 The following guidelines, based on review of the literature and expert consensus, were developed to facilitate systematic implementation of preprocedure preparation for pediatric patients undergoing invasive cardiac procedures.…”