Motivations and Features of Co-Parenting an Infant With Complex Congenital Heart Disease.
Karen Pridham, Tondi M Harrison, Anne Chevalier McKechnie and 1 others
PMID 28597724WHAT IT FOUND
Parents of infants with complex congenital heart disease described co-parenting around feeding, protecting, family life, and the couple relationship.
By 12 months, at least 30% of couples were rated as having difficulty on each co-parenting feature.
Key findings
01At 1 month, four motivations appeared in at least 50% of transcripts, but both parents held Developing the Co-Parenting Relationship in only 34.8% and Maintaining the Couple Relationship in 43.5%.
02Most couples were coded 4 or 5 for co-parenting features at both time points, but by 12 months at least 30% were coded 3 or lower on each of the five features.
03Changes from 1 to 12 months differed by neonatal illness severity: Living the Desired Life changed by 0.43 for lower severity, called moderate positive, and Relating to the Infant changed by −0.51 for higher severity, called large negative.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a secondary analysis of interviews collected for another study, so co-parenting was not the original focus and the questions may not have asked about each partner's view. Only the primary caregiving parent's report was used when both parents were not present, so one parent's account may stand for the couple. The sample was small and homogeneous: 23 married or partnered heterosexual, English-speaking parent couples from one midwestern regional children's hospital. The data were collected from 2004 to 2006, so current surgical techniques and clinical caregiving may differ. No measures of the parental relationship or social support were collected, so co-parenting ratings lack context. Illness severity was based on neonatal ratings, not on operations, acute illness, or hospitalizations during the first year. The study is preliminary and descriptive; it does not show that co-parenting features cause outcomes or that interventions work.
Declared interests
No author conflict of interest statement is supplied. The publication types list NIH and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that assessments or support based on these categories improve infant or parent outcomes. The study was a qualitative secondary analysis of 23 couples and did not test any intervention.