Long-term psychological distress in parents of child survivors of severe meningococcal disease.

OBJECTIVE

To study psychological distress in parents of child survivors of Severe Meningococcal Disease (SMD) after discharge of their child from the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

METHODS

This study approached parents of child survivors of SMD treated on the PICU between 1993-2001. Five cross-sectional groups were created for mothers and fathers separately. The five groups differed from each other by the period after discharge they entered the project (ranging from 3 months to 7 years after discharge). For research purposes, mothers and fathers (n = 192) individually completed the Goldberg General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ), measuring their level of psychological distress.

STATISTICS: Mean group scores were examined and a one-way-analysis of variance (ANOVA) performed to study differences between groups for mothers and fathers separately. In addition, percentages of parents with GHQ scores above cut-off were calculated and it was determined whether it differed from norm data.

RESULTS

Data reveal that both mothers and fathers experience high mean levels of psychological distress after discharge, showing no significant differences in group means over time. High percentages of parents experience psychological distress after discharge, if compared with the normal population.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents of child survivors of SMD experience profound and prolonged psychological distress after discharge. Future interventions should focus on follow-up care for this population to help them re-adjust after this stressful event.