Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mothers of infants with congenital heart defects: well-being from pregnancy through the child’s first six months

  • Published:
Quality of Life Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This study compared the well-being among mothers of children with congenital heart defects (CHD) with mothers of children without CHD (controls), at pregnancy and at 6 months postpartum.

Methods

We linked prospective data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, with a nationwide medical CHD registry. In the MoBa cohort of 61,456 mothers, we identified 212 mothers of infants with mild (n = 92), moderate (n = 50), or severe CHD (n = 70). Subjective well-being was operationalized by means of maternal life satisfaction, joy, and anger at the 30th week of gestation and at 6 months postpartum.

Results

Subjective well-being in mothers of children with CHD remained unchanged and similar to that of controls on satisfaction with life (P = 0.120) and feelings of joy (P = 0.065). However, at child age 6 months, mothers of infants with severe CHD reported slightly elevated feelings of anger compared with controls (P = 0.006).

Conclusions

Joy and life satisfaction remained intact among mothers of children with CHD. Yet, elevated feelings of anger in mothers of children with the most severe CHD suggest that they may experience more frustration.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Hobbs, D. F. (1968). Transition to parenthood: A replication and an Extension. Jounal of marriage and familily, 30, 413–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Clemente, C., & Others. (2001). Are infant behavioural feeding difficulties associated with congenital heart disease? Child: Care, Health and Development, 27, 47–59.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Saenz, R. B., Beebe, D. K., & Triplett, L. C. (1999). Caring for infants with congenital heart disease and their families. American Family Physician, 59, 1857–1868.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Allen, S. W., & Others. (2003). Evidence-based referral results in significantly reduced mortality after congenital heart surgery. Pediatrics, 112, 24–28.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Boneva, R. S., & Others. (2001). Mortality associated with congenital heart defects in the United States: trends and racial disparities, 1979–1997. Circulation, 103, 2376–2381.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Stark, J., & Others. (2000). Mortality rates after surgery for congenital heart defects in children and surgeons’ performance. Lancet, 355, 1004–1007.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Gantt, L. (2002). As normal a life as possible: Mothers and their daughters with congenital heart disease. Health Care For Women International, 23, 481–491.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Knafl, K. (2000). Childhood chronic illness: A comparison of mothers’ and fathers’ experiences. Journal of Family Nursing, 6, 287–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Solberg, O., & Others (2010). Long-term symptoms of depression and anxiety in mothers of infants with congenital heart defects. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 36, 179–187.

  10. Diener, E., & Diener, C. (1996). Most people are happy. Psychological Science, 7, 181–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Folkman, S., & Moskowitz, J. T. (2000). Positive affect and the other side of coping. American Psychologist, 55, 647–654.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Suh, E., Diener, E., & Fujita, F. (1996). Events and subjective well-being: only recent events matter. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1091–1102.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Røysamb, E. (2006). Personality and well-being. In M. E. Vollrath (Ed.), Handbook of personality and health (pp. 115–134). New York: Wiley.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  14. Diener, E. (2009). Subjective well-being. In E. Diener (Ed.), The Science of Well-Being (37th ed., pp. 11–58). Netherlands: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  15. Berant, E., Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P. R. (2008). Mothers’ attachment style, their mental health, and their children’s emotional vulnerabilities: a 7-year study of children with congenital heart disease. Journal of Personality, 76, 31–65.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Arafa, M., & Others. (2008). Quality of life among parents of children with heart disease. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 6, 91.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Landolt, M. A., Valsangiacomo, E., Latal, B. (2011). Predictors of parental quality of life after child open-heart surgery: A 6-months prospective study. Journal of Pediatric, 158, 37–43.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Lawoko, S., & Soares, J. J. F. (2003). Quality of life among parents of children with congenital heart disease, parents of children with other diseases and parents of healthy children. Quality of Life Research, 12, 655–666.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Grech, V., & Elliott, M. J. (1998). Evolution of surgical trends in congenital heart disease: a population based study. International Journal of Cardiology, 66, 285–292.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Magnus, P., & Others. (2006). Cohort profile: The Norwegian mother and child Cohort study (MoBa). International Journal of Epidemiology, 35, 1146–1150.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Irgens, L. M. (2000). The medical birth registry of Norway. Epidemiological research and surveillance throughout 30 years. Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 79, 435–439.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Eskedal, L., & Others. (2005). Survival after surgery for congenital heart defects: does reduced early mortality predict improved long-term survival? Acta Paediatrica, 94, 438–443.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Diener, E., & Others. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Izard, C. E., & Others. (1993). Stability of emotion experiences and their relations to traits of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 847–860.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Schafer, J. L., & Graham, J. W. (2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7, 147–177.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Dempster, A. P., Laird, N. M., & Rubin, D. B. (1977). Maximum likelihood from incomplete data via the EM algorithm. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B (Methodological), 39, 1–38.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Tabachnick, B. G. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155–159.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Hoffman, J. I. E., & Kaplan, S. (2002). The incidence of congenital heart disease. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 39, 1890–1900.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Bonanno, G. A., & Mancini, A. D. (2008). The human capacity to thrive in the face of potential trauma. Pediatrics, 121, 369–375.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7, 186–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unraveling the mystery of health: How people manage stress and stay well. London: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Vollrath, M. E. (2001). Personality and stress. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 42, 335–347.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Lucas, R. E. (2007). Adaptation and the set-point model of subjective well-being: Does happiness change after major life events? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 75–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. DeNeve, K. M., & Cooper, H. (1998). The happy personality: a meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 197–229.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Cohn, J. K. (1996). An empirical study of parents’ reaction to the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in infants. Social Work in Health Care, 23, 67–79.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Garson, A., & Others. (1978). Parental reactions to children with congenital heart disease. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 9, 86–94.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Nilsen, R. M., & Others. (2009). Self-selection and bias in a large prospective pregnancy cohort in Norway. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 23, 597–608.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Meberg, A. (2008). Critical heart defects-the diagnostic challenge. Acta Paediatrica, 97, 1480–1483.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Tegnander, E., & Others. (2006). Prenatal detection of heart defects in a non-selected population of 30 149 fetuses-detection rates and outcome. Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 27, 252–265.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Allan, L. D. (1984). Cardiac ultrasound of the fetus. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 59, 603–604.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Leithner, K., & Others. (2004). Affective state of women following a prenatal diagnosis: predictors of a negative psychological outcome. Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 23, 240–246.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Brosig, C. L., & Others. (2007). Psychological distress in parents of children with severe congenital heart disease: the impact of prenatal versus postnatal diagnosis. Journal of Perinatology, 27, 687–692.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Health, NIH/NIEHS (grant no. N01-ES-85433), NIH/NINDS (grant no.1 UO1 NS 047537-01), and the Norwegian Research Council/FUGE (grant no. 186031/V50).

The authors wish to thank Sarah E. Hampson for critically reviewing the paper for important intellectual content (NCR fund no. 194190).

Conflicts of interests

We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical standards

The study has been approved by the Norwegian Regional Comittee of Medical Ethics and by the Norwegian Data Inspectorate and is in agreement with the established international research codes of ethics.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychosomatics and Health Behavior, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Post Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403, Oslo, Norway

    Maria T. Grønning Dale, Øivind Solberg & Margarete E. Vollrath

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Maria T. Grønning Dale, Øivind Solberg & Margarete E. Vollrath

  3. Department of Pediatrics, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

    Henrik Holmstrøm

  4. Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, University Children’s Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    Markus A. Landolt

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Sørlandet Hospital HF, Kristiansand, Norway

    Leif T. Eskedal

Authors
  1. Maria T. Grønning Dale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Øivind Solberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Henrik Holmstrøm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Markus A. Landolt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Leif T. Eskedal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Margarete E. Vollrath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria T. Grønning Dale.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dale, M.T.G., Solberg, Ø., Holmstrøm, H. et al. Mothers of infants with congenital heart defects: well-being from pregnancy through the child’s first six months. Qual Life Res 21, 115–122 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-9920-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-9920-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation