The impact of telehealth education on parental care ability and postoperative nutritional status of infants after congenital heart disease surgery: A systematic review study

Introduction: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of infant morbidity worldwide. Infants undergoing CHD surgery often face postoperative complications and malnutrition, while their parents struggle with caregiving due to limited knowledge. Telehealth education offers an effective way to support families by enhancing parental caregiving skills and reducing their burden. This study aimed to investigate the impact of telehealth education on parental care ability and postoperative nutritional status of infants after CHD surgery. Methods and Materials: This systematic review study search was conducted using the following databases: CINAHL, Cochrane Library CENTRAL, Scopus, PubMed, SID databases and Google Scholar was used to search for gray literature. The search was conducted beginning to July ۲۰۲۵, using the keywords' congenital heart disease', 'nutritional status', 'telehealth education', 'care ability' in both Persian and English languages. The inclusion criteria involved RCTs and quasi-experimental studies relevant to the current study. Exclusion criteria included commentaries, observational studies, reviews, and conference papers. Two independent reviewers conducted the screening and data extraction. The quality assessment tool for studies with diverse design was used for quality assessment, and the PRISMA guidelines were followed for reporting. Results: Of a total ۵۰۴ studies were identified; after screening the titles and abstracts and removing duplicates (N=۴۸), ۲۴ studies were selected for full-text review. Out of these, ۵ RCTs (۳) and quasi-experimental (۲) studies that met the PICOTS criteria were included in the study. Studies have shown that parents are the primary caregivers for infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) after hospital discharge, facing challenges in feeding and care. Telehealth education significantly improves parental caregiving ability and reduces caregiver burden by providing essential information on CHD, postoperative care, family feeding, and complication management. This approach had a significant positive impact on infants' overall condition, including improvements in weight, hemoglobin, and albumin levels. Compared to traditional follow-up, telehealth better supports families in managing postoperative care and enhances infants' nutritional status. Conclusion: Providing telehealth education to facilitate home feeding and to provide care guidance for infants after CHD surgery can greatly improve the ability of parents to provide care. Thus, infants can obtain better feeding and care, and their nutritional status can be effectively improved.

کلیدواژه ها:

Congenital heart disease ، Nutritional status ، Telehealth education ، Care ability