Early growth trajectory is associated with psychological stress in parents of infants with congenital heart disease, but moderated by quality of partner relationship

ElsevierVolume 69, March–April 2023, Pages 93-100Journal of Pediatric NursingAuthor links open overlay panelHighlights•

Poor growth trajectories in early infancy results in Parent Psychological Stress.

High quality of partner relationship mitigates risk of parent psychological stress.

Findings can be used to identify parents at potential risk of poor mental health.

AbstractPurpose

To explore the relationships between growth trajectory, parenting stress and parent post-traumatic stress (PTS), in infants with congenital heart disease, and the moderating role of parents' dyadic adjustment on those associations.

Design and methods

A secondary analysis of data from the REACH Telehalth home monitoring multi-site randomized clinical trial. Parents completed the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Post-traumatic diagnostic scale, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the associations of interest.

Results

During 4-month follow-up after hospital discharge, parents of infants with ‘Never recovered’ and ‘Partially recovered’ growth trajectories had 2–5 times higher odds of experiencing higher stress on the Parent Domain (OR = 4.8, CI = 1.3–18.0; OR = 2.5, CI = 1.0–5.9, respectively) than those with stably grown infants. Parents of “Never recovered” infants had 4 times higher odds of PTS symptoms (OR = 3.9; CI = 1.6–9.9). Parental dyadic adjustment moderated the relationships. Parents of ‘Partially recovered’ infants and having low dyadic adjustment had 3–5 times higher odds of high stress on all PSI domains, while parents with high dyadic adjustment did not have increased stress due to poor infant growth. Parents of “Never recovered” infants had four times higher odds of PTS symptom, even with high dyadic adjustment.

Conclusions

Infant growth trajectory over the first four months is associated with parenting stress and PTS. Quality of partner relationship moderates some of these associations.

Practice implications

Infant growth should serve as a screening aid for identifying parents at psychological risk. Interventions targeting the quality of partner relationship may support parental coping and mitigate stress.

Clinical Trial Registration: NCT01941667

Keywords

Growth trajectory

Congenital heart disease

Post-traumatic stress

Infant

Cardiac surgery

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