The effect of consultancy on phone after hospital discharge on self-efficacy of mothers of children with congenital heart disease: A quasi-experimental study

Background: The parents of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are faced with multiple needs such as home care of children and medicinal care after the child is discharged from hospital.

Objectives: To assess the effect of consultancy on phone after hospital discharge on self-efficacy of mothers of children with CHD.

Method: This is a quasi-experimental study in which 100 mothers were selected from among those whose children were hospitalized due to their CHD using a simple random sampling and randomly divided into control and intervention groups using block randomization: the intervention group on phone consultancy and the control group. Tools used for collecting data were the Demographic Information and General Self-Efficacy questionnaires. The principal researcher phoned mothers in the intervention group on the third and fifth days after hospital discharge and consulted with them about giving medications. Immediately after hospital discharge and one week later, questionnaires were filled out.

Results:The mothers' self-efficacy score in the intervention group had a statistically significant difference immediately after hospital discharge and one week later (p=0.000, p<0.001). However, the difference in the mothers' self-efficacy score in the control group was not significant immediately after hospital discharge and one week later (p=0.421). Moreover, a significant difference was observed between the self-efficacy score of the intervention and control groups one week after discharge (p=0.000, p<0.001).

Conclusions: The present study showed that consultancy on phone, after being discharged from hospital, was effective in self-efficacy of mothers of children with CHD.

Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2021; 50(2): 209-214