Qualitative study on the psychological experience of parents for children with congenital hypothyroidism
XU Ran
JIANG Xiaojing
ZHOU Yuanli
Abstract：Objective: To deeply explore the psychological experience of parents of children with congenital hypothyroidism, and to provide references for improving their mental and physical health conditions and caregiving quality. Methods: A phenomenological research method was used, and semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 parents of children with congenital hypothyroidism. The Colaizzi seven-step analysis method was applied to extract themes. Results: Three themes were identified: misconceptions about the disease (misconceptions about causes, symptoms, lack of knowledge about medication, and confusion about the prognosis of the disease), strong negative experiences (heavy psychological burden, obvious physical symptoms, and imbalance in family relationships), and insufficient support systems (lack of professional caregiving skills and heavy caregiving burden; insufficient social support systems and heavy physical and mental load). Conclusion: Parents of children with congenital hypothyroidism face multiple challenges. Healthcare professionals should take effective intervention measures and establish a multi-dimensional support system to help them overcome these difficulties, improve caregiving quality and quality of life. At the same time, congenital diseases represented by congenital hypothyroidism urgently need widespread attention and coordinated efforts from the whole society.
Keywords：congenital hypothyroidismparentspsychological experiencequalitative study
Publication Date：2025-10-10
Online Publishing Date：2025-10-31(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 4036-4041 )