Abstract:

Objective To investigate the status of feeding related anxiety in parents of infants with congenital heart diseases, and explore the influencing factors. Methods Convenient sampling was used to select 144 parents of infants with congenital heart diseases. General data questionnaire, state anxiety inventory and feeding knowledge assessment questionnaire were adopted to investigate the general conditions, status of feeding related anxiety and feeding knowledge acquisition of parents, and influencing factors of feeding related anxiety were explored by stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. Results In all the 144 parents of infants with congenital heart diseases, the score of state anxiety inventory was 45.23±10.10, and that of feeding knowledge acquisition was 3.10±0.46. The birth weight, score of feeding difficulty, gender of infants and level of feeding knowledge acquisition were related to feeding related anxiety. Conclusion Effective education on feeding should be conducted for parents of infants with low birth weight and symptoms of feeding difficulty in order to enhance feeding knowledge acquisition and reduce feeding related anxiety.

Key words: congenital heart disease, feeding difficulty, anxiety, feeding related anxiety