Determination of parenting stress experienced by mothers of infants with congenital heart disease and predictor factors

This study was designed as a descriptive and correlational study to evaluate the level of parenting stress and the factors affecting parenting stress in mothers of infants with congenital heart disease. The study included 155 mothers who had infants with congenital heart disease in Başkent University Ankara Hospital Paediatric Cardiovascular Surgery Service and Hacettepe University İhsan Doğramacı Children's Hospital Cardiovascular Surgery Service clinics and who met the inclusion criteria. Data were collected between 30 May 2023 and 5 March 2024 using the Data Collection Form, Parental Stress Index-Short Form, Maternal Attachment Scale, Parental Self-Efficacy Scale, Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, and Marital Satisfaction Scale. The Başkent University Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee granted the ethics committee permission. In the descriptive data analysis, numbers, and percentages were used for categorical data, and standard deviation was used for continuous data. Pearson Correlation Analysis was used to analyze the relationship between continuous variables. Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was used to analyze the risk factors affecting the parenting stress scale score. The mean parenting stress score of the mothers was 69.8±25.7, with a percentage of 38.8%. Parenting stress observed in mothers of infants with congenital heart disease was related to perceived economic status (t=2,757; p=0,007), number of children (t=2,358; p=0,020), positive change in relationship with a spouse (t= -2,020; p=0,045), level of access to health care (t= -2,478; p=0,014), time of diagnosis (t=3,414; p<0,001), duration of hospitalisation (t=2,922; p=0,004), maternal attachment (t=2,343; p<0,021), parental self-efficacy (t= -3,592; p<0,001), perceptions of social support (family and friends) (t= -2,761; p=0,007) (t= -2,761; p=0,007) and marital life satisfaction (t= -2,377; p=0,019). The regression analysis model revealed that 52.3% of parenting stress was explained by these independent variables (R2: 0.523; p<0.001). In line with these findings, it was recommended that parental self-efficacy, social support, and marital satisfaction should be increased, and individualized nursing care should be provided by considering the individual characteristics of mothers to reduce the level of parenting stress in mothers of infants with congenital heart disease. Keywords: mother, infant, parenting stress, nursing, congenital heart disease.