Experience of fathers whose child was definitively diagnosed congenital heart disease while neonatal period

Abstract

 In order to better understand the experience of fathers whose children were definitively diagnosed with congenital heart disease during the neonatal period, we conducted semi-structured interviews with seven fathers and qualitatively analyzed responses. As a result, we discovered two perspectives and extracted 10 categories regarding the feelings and attitudes of fathers. These included “the shock and feeling of being unable to accept the diagnosis when I first learned that my child had heart disease”, “the sense of responsibility as a father and helplessness as a man”, and “working with it alone while restraining my feelings or trying not to think about the disease”. We extracted three categories regarding intra-family support. They included “supporting my wife by telling her about how our child is doing and by being by her side” and “raising our child while supporting each other as a couple”. These results suggest that it is important to understand the feelings of fathers, even though these feelings may not be readily expressed in words or facial expressions, and to provide a space where their feelings can be expressed. In addition, providing assistance so that the couples may support one another is necessary, as fathers feel they are helped by intra-family support.