Background:

Invasive medical procedures in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) increase parental anxiety and stress with a negative impact on the disease and children’s coping. Parental psychoeducational programs promote their mental health and positive impact on pediatric health. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of an online psychoeducational program to promote the mental health of parents of children with CHD who are about to undergo an invasive medical procedure.

Methods:

Forty-three mothers and fathers of children with CHD about to undergo catheterization or cardiac surgery belonging to the Live Longer Mexico Foundation participated, divided alternately into two groups: 1) online psychoeducational program (n = 22), and 2) control (n = 21). Mental health was evaluated based on three indicators: parental stress, state/trait anxiety and worry before the procedure. The PSI-SF Parental Stress Index, the Parental Worry about Surgery Questionnaire and the Trait-State Anxiety Inventory were used.

Results:

The group with the psychoeducational program showed a statistically significant decrease in state anxiety and worry about the medical procedure. Additionally, state anxiety and worry about the medical procedure are significantly lower in the group that received the psychoeducational program compared to the control. Parental stress had no significant intra- and inter-group changes.

Conclusions:

The online psychoeducational program is effective in favoring parental mental health, specifically on state/trait anxiety and worry about surgery in parents of children with CC nearing catheterization or cardiac surgery.