The Effect of Educational Program on the General Health of the Mothers of the Infants with Congenital Heart Defects

Mothers of infants with congenital heart defects experience depression, anxiety, physical symptoms, and hopelessness through their lifetime, which can have a negative impact on their general health. Some educational interventions may be useful in reduction of these problems. The present study aimed to determine the effect of educational program on general health of the mothers of the infants with congenital heart defects.
This experimental and randomized controlled trial study was conducted on 56 mothers of the infants with congenital heart defects. The mothers were randomly divided into an intervention and a control group. The intervention group was trained for 4 weeks. Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire was used to collect the data before, immediately after, and 60 days after the intervention. Then, the data were entered into the SPSS statistical software and analyzed using Chi-square test, t-test, and repeated measures ANOVA.
Before the intervention, the mean general health of the mothers in the intervention and the control group was 72.53±8.74 and 70.03±11.51, respectively. The results revealed a significant difference between the two groups regarding maternal general health immediately after the training (t=-5.01, P This study showed that educational program could improve general health and reduce anxiety, somatic symptoms, and social dysfunction in the mothers of the infants with congenital heart defects. Thus, nurses are recommended to use educational programs to promote the general health of the mothers and their infants.