The effect of perceived social support on the psychosocial status of parents whose child had liver transplantation

The effect of intolerance of uncertainty, sleep quality, and social support on caregiver burden in parents of children with chronic diseases: A cross-sectional study

AIM

This study aims to determine the effect of intolerance of uncertainty, sleep quality, and social support on caregiver burden among parents of children with chronic diseases.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was carried out on parents of children with chronic illnesses (n = 144), who were admitted to a medical faculty hospital in Turkey from June 2023 until June 2024. The data collection was conducted using the "Family Information Form," the "Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index," the "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support," the "Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale," and the "Caregiver Burden Scale". Data were analyzed using Student's t-test, one-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression analysis.

RESULTS

Participants' mean scores were found to be 37.5 ± 14.43 on the Caregiver Burden scale, 8.37 ± 3.25 on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, 66.06 ± 13.87 on the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and 38.97 ± 10.25 on the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Income level (β = 0.252), level of intolerance of uncertainty (β = 0.200), and the number of the child's hospitalizations in the past year (β = 0.266) were significant predictors affecting the caregiver burden.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that parental caregiver burden was related with intolerance of uncertainty, income status, and the number of the child's hospitalizations.

Psychosocial conditions of children after liver transplant: Post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety

AIM

This study aimed to determine psychosocial conditions, post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety of children who underwent a liver transplant.

METHOD

This is a relational descriptive study, which was conducted between March 2019 and December 2020 in the Inonu University Liver Transplantation Institute Pediatric Liver Transplant Clinic. The "Child Information Form," "Child Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction Index," "State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children-Trait Form," and "Children's Depression Inventory" were used to collect data. The study was conducted with 71 children who had a previous liver transplant.

RESULTS

Of the participating children, 56.3% were girls, 63.4% continued their primary school education after the transplant, 32.5% were diagnosed with cirrhosis, 39.4% received the transplant in 2017, 32.4% received it from the mother, and 25.4% received it from a cadaveric donor. Although it had been at least 3 years since the transplant, 47.9% exhibited moderate and 43.7% severe post-traumatic stress responses. There was a significant negative relationship between the age of children with a liver transplant and trait anxiety and post-traumatic stress responses (path coefficients β = -0.268, p = 0.002; β = -0.166, p = 0.023, respectively). There was a significant positive relationship between anxiety and post-traumatic stress responses of the children after the transplant and there was a statistically significant relationship between the path coefficients (β = 0.750; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Children who underwent a liver transplant had post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and trait anxiety.

Effect of the Digital Education Package (DEP) on prevention of anxiety in hospitalized children: a quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

Hospitalization of children is a stressful event. However, the child's education at the time of hospital admission can be effective for the prevention of their anxiety via the use of more attractive methods. The study's aim was to assess the effectiveness of the education using a digital education package on the level of anxiety of hospitalized children.

METHODS

This is a quasi-experimental study with the randomized block method. The sample size was calculated based on Shahrabadi et al.'s study and sixty eligible hospitalized children were allocated to the two study groups from June 2019 to December 2020, in Hefdah-e-Sahrivar hospital which is the central pediatric hospital in Rasht city. The intervention was education using a digital package that was done 15 min after the hospitalization of the children. Pediatrics' Spielberger's anxiety Inventory was used for measuring the participants' anxiety before and after the intervention. We used Chi square test, Fisher exact test and paired t-test to analyze data. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

In the post-intervention phase, total mean scores of anxiety were significantly lower in the experimental group (60.17 ± 6.46) rather than in the control group (72.6 ± 8.83) (P < 0.001). The mean anxiety scores before and after the intervention were 87.43 ± 11 vs. 60.17 ± 6.46 in the intervention group and 81.5 ± 11 vs. 72.6 ± 8.83 in the control group, respectively. There were significant differences in intergroup anxiety scores between the two study groups (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The current study showed that the Digital Education Package (DEP) is an effective method for reducing children's anxiety during hospitalization. Therefore, we recommended it as a preferred and simple method rather than routine education for pediatric nurses.