Fetal Cardiac Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Does It Affect Parental Counseling?
The COVID-19 pandemic impacts health care providers in multiple ways, even specialties that do not seem to be affected primarily, such as fetal cardiac services. We aimed to assess the effects on parental counseling for fetal congenital heart disease (CHD). In this multicenter study, we used a valid...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical Medicine |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/15/3423 |
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| author | Alexander Kovacevic Stefan Bär Sebastian Starystach Michael Elsässer Thomas van der Locht Aida Mohammadi Motlagh Eva Ostermayer Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz Peter Ewert Matthias Gorenflo Annette Wacker-Gussmann |
| author_facet | Alexander Kovacevic Stefan Bär Sebastian Starystach Michael Elsässer Thomas van der Locht Aida Mohammadi Motlagh Eva Ostermayer Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz Peter Ewert Matthias Gorenflo Annette Wacker-Gussmann |
| author_sort | Alexander Kovacevic |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic impacts health care providers in multiple ways, even specialties that do not seem to be affected primarily, such as fetal cardiac services. We aimed to assess the effects on parental counseling for fetal congenital heart disease (CHD). In this multicenter study, we used a validated questionnaire. Parents were recruited from four national tertiary medical care centers (<i>n</i> = 226); <i>n</i> = 169 had been counseled before and <i>n</i> = 57 during the pandemic. Overall counseling success including its dimensions did not differ between the two groups (<i>p</i> = n.s.). However, by applying the sorrow scale, we could demonstrate that parents counseled during the pandemic were significantly more concerned (<i>p</i> = 0.025) and unsure (<i>p</i> = 0.044) about their child’s diagnosis, therapy and outcome. Furthermore, parents expressed a significantly increased need for written and/or online information on fetal heart disease (<i>p</i> = 0.034). Other modifiers did not affect counseling success (<i>p</i> = n.s.). We demonstrate that the COVID-19 pandemic impacts effectiveness of parental counseling for fetal CHD, possibly by altering parental perceptions. This needs to be taken into consideration when counseling. Implementing alternative and innovative approaches (e.g., online conference or virtual reality tools) may aid in facilitating high-quality services in critical times such as in the present pandemic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:13:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c4356415def94c8ca6c4bbc8f1dab0ea |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0383 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:13:21Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Clinical Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-c4356415def94c8ca6c4bbc8f1dab0ea2023-11-22T05:50:38ZengMDPI AGJournal of Clinical Medicine2077-03832021-07-011015342310.3390/jcm10153423Fetal Cardiac Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Does It Affect Parental Counseling?Alexander Kovacevic0Stefan Bär1Sebastian Starystach2Michael Elsässer3Thomas van der Locht4Aida Mohammadi Motlagh5Eva Ostermayer6Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz7Peter Ewert8Matthias Gorenflo9Annette Wacker-Gussmann10Department of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69120 Heidelberg, GermanyMax Weber Institute for Sociology, Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg, 69115 Heidelberg, GermanyMax Weber Institute for Sociology, Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg, 69115 Heidelberg, GermanyDepartment of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69120 Heidelberg, GermanyDepartment of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69120 Heidelberg, GermanyInstitute of Preventive Pediatrics, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich, 80992 Munich, GermanyDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, 81675 Munich, GermanyInstitute of Preventive Pediatrics, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich, 80992 Munich, GermanyDepartment of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Defects, German Heart Center Munich, 80636 Munich, GermanyDepartment of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiology, Heidelberg University Hospital, 69120 Heidelberg, GermanyInstitute of Preventive Pediatrics, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich, 80992 Munich, GermanyThe COVID-19 pandemic impacts health care providers in multiple ways, even specialties that do not seem to be affected primarily, such as fetal cardiac services. We aimed to assess the effects on parental counseling for fetal congenital heart disease (CHD). In this multicenter study, we used a validated questionnaire. Parents were recruited from four national tertiary medical care centers (<i>n</i> = 226); <i>n</i> = 169 had been counseled before and <i>n</i> = 57 during the pandemic. Overall counseling success including its dimensions did not differ between the two groups (<i>p</i> = n.s.). However, by applying the sorrow scale, we could demonstrate that parents counseled during the pandemic were significantly more concerned (<i>p</i> = 0.025) and unsure (<i>p</i> = 0.044) about their child’s diagnosis, therapy and outcome. Furthermore, parents expressed a significantly increased need for written and/or online information on fetal heart disease (<i>p</i> = 0.034). Other modifiers did not affect counseling success (<i>p</i> = n.s.). We demonstrate that the COVID-19 pandemic impacts effectiveness of parental counseling for fetal CHD, possibly by altering parental perceptions. This needs to be taken into consideration when counseling. Implementing alternative and innovative approaches (e.g., online conference or virtual reality tools) may aid in facilitating high-quality services in critical times such as in the present pandemic.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/15/3423COVID-19 pandemicfetal congenital heart diseaseprenatal diagnosisparental counseling |
| spellingShingle | Alexander Kovacevic Stefan Bär Sebastian Starystach Michael Elsässer Thomas van der Locht Aida Mohammadi Motlagh Eva Ostermayer Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz Peter Ewert Matthias Gorenflo Annette Wacker-Gussmann Fetal Cardiac Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Does It Affect Parental Counseling? Journal of Clinical Medicine COVID-19 pandemic fetal congenital heart disease prenatal diagnosis parental counseling |
| title | Fetal Cardiac Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Does It Affect Parental Counseling? |
| title_full | Fetal Cardiac Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Does It Affect Parental Counseling? |
| title_fullStr | Fetal Cardiac Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Does It Affect Parental Counseling? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fetal Cardiac Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Does It Affect Parental Counseling? |
| title_short | Fetal Cardiac Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Does It Affect Parental Counseling? |
| title_sort | fetal cardiac services during the covid 19 pandemic how does it affect parental counseling |
| topic | COVID-19 pandemic fetal congenital heart disease prenatal diagnosis parental counseling |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/10/15/3423 |
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