An empirical study of parents' reaction to the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in infants.

Health care professionals assume that parents of newborn babies diagnosed with congenital heart disease experience more negative feelings of sadness, anger, fear and guilt than parents of normal newborns. Since there have been no previous empirical studies, this study sought to challenge those assumptions. Results of the study suggest that parents of such infants were indeed more fearful than parents of normal babies. The data also indicates that all parents experience sadness, anger and fear, but parents of normal babies experience less anger and sadness. Many implications for social work practice, education and research are indicated as a result of this study.