Qualitative and systemic exploration of a nursing intervention through play, which aims to prepare a hospitalized child and his parents for cardiac surgery

Abstract

Hospitalization of a child for open heart surgery is a major event in a family's life. Apprehension of the surgical procedure can have serious psychological consequences and cause high anxiety for the child and his parents. Many interventions have been tried to reduce this preoperative anxiety, but there is no evidence to date on the best way to prepare these families for surgery. A phenomenological-inspired qualitative study with a reference framework of Wright and Leahey's family intervention model (2013) was conducted to evaluate a preparation for open heart surgery using doll play. To this end, semi-structured systemic interviews were conducted with ten families who benefited from the preparation (Among these families, 5 children have already been hospitalized for open heart surgery, the 5 others were hospitalized for the first time). The study took place within the M3 department of Marie Lannelongue Hospital. The Results of the research show that the families’ experiences differ significantly. For families whose child is not having their first surgery, an additional hospitalization represents a new challenge with new difficulties to overcome. For the others, this first hospitalization is like a leap into the unknown ( Fig. 1 ). Families whose child is hospitalized for cardiac surgery have a significant need for information about the hospitalisation and the surgery, depending on their stories and their beliefs. Even though the root-cause of anxiety are not the same for all the families, the resulting consequences of fear and apprehension are shared by all of them. Activity through play must therefore adapt to these parameters in order to effectively prepare families for surgery. This study provides a better understanding of the experiences of these children and their parents. In addition, it suggests generalizable improvements to other interventions so that care services can subsequently improve or build their own surgical preparation programs.