Zasha Francheska Vazquez-Colon, MD
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Disclosure information not submitted.
Daniel Rodriguez, BS
Biostatistics Intern
University of Florida, United States
Disclosure information not submitted.
Victoria Botelho
Research Assistant
University of Florida, United States
Disclosure information not submitted.
Cynthia Garvan, PhD
Associate Director of Research
University of Florida, United States
Disclosure information not submitted.
Laurel Barwick, BSN, RN-BC
Pediatric Cardiac ICU Clinical Leader
UF Health Shands Children's Hospital, United States
Disclosure information not submitted.
Joseph Philip, MD
Associate Professor
Congenital Heart Center, Shands Children's Hospital, United States
Disclosure information not submitted.
Leah Breault
Clinical Research Assistant
University of Florida, United States
Disclosure information not submitted.
Dalia Lopez-Colon, PhD
Research Coordinator
University of Florida, United States
Disclosure information not submitted.
Erika M. Cascio, Psy D
Clinical Assistant Professor
University of Florida, United States
Disclosure information not submitted.
Desiree Machado, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor
n/a, United States
Disclosure information not submitted.
Title: Impact of CPR Teaching on Stress and Anxiety of Parents of Infants with Heart Disease
Introduction: Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) continues to be associated to poor survival and neurologic outcomes. Fear of cardiac arrest among parents of infants at risk for cardiac arrest can be an immense stressor and source of anxiety. There is scarce literature about effects of cardiopulmonary resuscitation training (CPRt) on parental stress and anxiety, especially in children with heart disease (HD). We analyzed impact of CPRt on comfort level, stress and anxiety of parents of infants with HD.
Methods: Parents of infants with HD underwent CPRt. Comfort level with CPR and choking relief maneuver (CRM), Parental State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Parenting Stress Index (PSI) scores, were prospectively collected pre-, immediately post-, and three months post-CPRt.
Results: There were 97 participants: 80% (n=78) mothers/grandmothers, 20% (n=19) fathers; mean (SD) age was 29.65 (7.15); mean (SD) pre-training STAI was 34.66 (10.06); mean (SD) pre-CPRt PSI was 61.94 (17.92). We found that at baseline: 1) older parents had higher levels of anxiety (r=.33, p=.005), 2) lower comfort in performing CPR was correlated with higher anxiety (rs=-.25, p=.03), 3) comfort performing CRM was negatively correlated with both STAI and PSI (rs =-.26, p=.02 and rs =-.25, p=.03 respectively). We found that CPRt significantly increased comfort performing CPR, CRM, and comfort knowing what to do (p=< .001, p=< .001, p=< .001, respectively) pre- to immediately post teaching. Increased comfort levels persisted elevated when comparing pre- to 3 months post-CPRt (p=< .001, p=.002, p=.001, respectively), maintaining at least a 177% average increase up to 3 months post- for all 3 aspects. In a multivariable analysis, we found that the CPRt significantly reduced anxiety over time (-12.5% pre- to immediately post- and -18.4% pre- to 3 months post-).
Conclusion: CPRt improves anxiety and stress in parents of infants with HD. Parent-reported outcomes in children with HD can be improved by a simple task such as CPRt and steps to follow in an emergency as bystander, which has been shown to improve outcomes in patients with OHCA.