Recognizing and Treating Psychosocial Stress Among Children With Complex Heart Problems

Overview

This research project has two goals. The first goal is to find one or more questionnaires that can accurately identify children who are experiencing high levels of stress or emotional health issues during a regular clinic visit. The second goal is to find out whether children who are experiencing stress or emotional health problems are able to attend a day camp programme and complete activities at home that are designed to help them cope better with stress. We also want to find out if the day camp and home activities are helpful.

This research will investigate the psychological stress experienced by children who have had surgery for a complex heart problem. Measures of quality of life among children with heart problems indicate that those 8 to 12 years of age have lower quality of life scores than younger or older children. Children who survive a critical illness requiring a multi-day stay in a pediatric intensive care unit are at risk for a variety of psychiatric morbidities. Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder occur in 7% to 28% of patients. A systematic review of psychological adjustment among children with heart problems indicates that parent reports (but not child self-reports) are useful in detecting problems with psychological adjustment. While parent reports tend to identify increased social and behaviour problems, child self-reports indicate more frequent symptoms of depression compared to healthy peers.

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes