Self-care status in children with congenital heart disease: A mixed-method study

Background: Suffering congenital heart disease leads to physical and mental disabilities in children. Children's self-care can result in appropriate care behaviors for limiting disease-induced problems. Given the ability of children to care for themselves, we investigated self-care statues in children who are suffering from congenital heart disease.

Method: This study was conducted using a mixed-method approach and a sequential explanatory design. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess self-care status in 124 CHD children who were living in Kerman, Iran. In the qualitative phase, the researchers interviewed 13 of these children and three parents using semi-structured in-depth and face-to-face approaches.

Results: The mean of self-care scores in these school-age children was optimal (10/7 ± 2/6). In the qualitative phase, three main themes were extracted: captive to health issues physical and mental sufferings and wishing for peace of mind.

Conclusion: The results showed that self-care status in these children was optimal. As the main pillar of patient education, nurses can help enhance self-care behaviors and reduce the complications and problems induced by the disease by implementing educational and support interventions for children with CHD and their families.