Examining the relationship between alexithymic characteristics of children with congenital heart disease(CHD) and attitudes of the disease towards herself

Mehmet Veysel ASLAN, Examining the Relationship Between Alexithymic Characteristics of Children with Congenital Heart Disease(CHD) and Attitudes of the Disease Towards Herself and Determining the Affecting Factors, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Nursing Program, Master's Thesis, Gaziantep, 2022. The study was conducted in a descriptive and relationship-seeking style in order to examine the relationship between the alexithymic characteristics of children with CHD and the attitude of the disease towards themselves and to determine the factors affecting it. The study was carried out with 104 pediatric patients diagnosed with CHD in Diyarbakır Health Sciences University Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital Annex Building Gynecology and Pediatrics Hospital Pediatric Cardiology Outpatient Clinic. As a data collection tool, "Information Form for Children and Family", which was created by the researcher by scanning the literature, Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children (AQC), The Child Attitude Toward Illness Scale (CATIS) was used. Statistical analysis of the data was done with SPSS 23.0 package program and t test and analysis of variance were used for data with normal distribution, and Kruskal Wallis H and Mann Whitney U tests were used for data that did not fit normal distribution. The Cronbach Alpha test was used for the scale to be safe. The results were analyzed at a 95% confidence interval with an error rate of 0.05. The AQC total score average of the children participating in the study was 21.10±3.88, the Difficulty Identifying Feelings sub-dimension average 4.89±1.81, the Difficulty Describing Feelings sub-dimension mean 5.18±1.57, and the Externally-Oriented Thinking sub-dimension average 18.08±1.59. The CATIS overall score average of the participants was 2.85±0.43 and it was evaluated as a negative attitude. In addition, the mean score of the children with a negative attitude (66.3%) was 2.61±0.26, the mean score of the children with a neutral attitude (32.7%) was 3.30±0.27, and the mean score of the children with a positive attitude (1.0%) was 4.00±0.00. The children's diagnosis of CHD, their inability to express their feelings about their illness, and their attendance at school were associated with both the CAS total score average and the CATIS overall score average. While there was a relationship between the time of diagnosis in children and gender, and the mean AQC total score, it was determined that hospitalization, presence of additional chronic disease, continuous drug use, age and family economic status affected CATIS scores. When the relationship between the two scales is evaluated; It was observed that there was a moderate negative correlation between AQC scores and CATIS scores(r=-0.48,p<0.05). Based on this result, it was recommended to keep the issues of alexithymia and disease attitude up-to-date and to give importance to CHD awareness by giving nurses in-service training programs on these issues. Key words: Congenital heart disease, Child, Alexithymia, Attitude