The experience of parents of newborns diagnosed with a congenital anomaly at birth: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

Review question/objective The qualitative objective is to identify the experience of parents who are informed that their newborn infant has a congenital anomaly at birth. The review question is: what is the experience of parents who are informed that their child has a congenital anomaly at birth? Inclusion criteria Types of participants The qualitative component of this review will consider studies that include the experiences of parents of newborn infants that were diagnosed with a congenital anomaly at birth regardless of race, gender, nationality or religious affiliation. Studies published in the English language will be considered for review. This review will exclude studies that include the births of non-viable infants, and studies in which the anomaly was identified greater than twenty-four hours after delivery The textual component of this review will consider publications that include experiences of parents of newborn infants that were diagnosed with a congenital anomaly at birth regardless of race, gender, nationality or religious affiliation. Phenomena of interest The qualitative component of this review will consider studies that investigate the experiences of parents who are informed that their newborn child has a congenital anomaly. The textual component of this review will consider publications that describe parents’ experiences to being informed that their newborn infant has a congenital anomaly. The context of the qualitative and textual components of the review may include, but are not limited to: consideration of cultural factors, such as geographic location; specific racial or gender based experiences; and details about the setting, healthcare or the community as they relate to the experiences or meanings that individuals or groups reported in the studies or texts.