Traumatic stress in parents of children with congenital heart disease: a scoping review

Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect in the United States, with many of the affected infants requiring surgical and/or interventional procedures within their first year of life. The parental impacts of a child's diagnosis, subsequent hospitalization, and transition to home after discharge are numerous and burdensome, and many experience symptoms of traumatic stress along this trajectory. The purpose of this scoping review was to summarize current available literature related to the traumatic stress experienced by parents of children with heart disease to better understand the prevalence, related factors, and consequences. The Joanna Briggs Institute Scoping Review Framework was implemented to identify 31 relevant peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and early 2024, including 25 quantitative studies, 3 qualitative studies, and 3 systematic reviews or meta-analyses. This scoping review provides an overview of parent traumatic stress for clinicians caring for children with heart disease at every stage of their clinical course.