Background: Families of children at the worst end of the congenital heart disease endure a significant burden which is often not clearly delineated in the clinical literature. We examined the greatest concerns of parents whose children have a Fontan circulation.

Methods: Parents ( = 107) of children in the Australian and New Zealand Fontan Registry completed online surveys with open-ended and closed questions. A qualitative method approach incorporating thematic analyses was used.

Results: The greatest concerns for parents of a child with a Fontan circulation were centered on fear of death for their child and psychosocial well-being, followed by lesser themes around anti-coagulation use, pregnancy and financial burdens.

Conclusions: Fear of death and the psychological well-being of their children were the main parental concerns. It highlights the need to clearly communicate information on outcomes to families, and the need for family-focused psychological interventions to improve the psychosocial functioning of both parents and young people.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5988481PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcha.2018.02.008DOI Listing

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