Emotional and social effects of congenital heart disease in Singapore

Abstract

A cohort of patients with congenital heart disease (n = 29) who had undergone corrective cardiac surgery was studied and compared with normal controls. The mean age of cardiac patients was 10.3 years with a range of 6 years to 16 years. Their emotional maladjustment as measured on a behavioral checklist was significantly higher (P < 0.01) than controls, and their social adjustment was also similarly less satisfactory (P < 0.05). Regression analysis indicated that emotional maladjustment in the child was related to maternal maladjustment (P < 0.01), maternal guilt (P < 0.01) and maternal anxiety (P < 0.05). Social maladjustment in the child was significantly related to maternal guilt (P < 0.05) and pampering (P < 0.02). It was considered that the child with heart disease was perceived and 'labelled' by the mother as abnormal even after surgery and was therefore the object and focus of maternal guilt and anxiety. Hence, the child's emotional and social maladjustment is probably the result of maternal factors rather than the physical handicaps of the illness.