Background
Children with congenital heart disease are living longer than ever before. This growing cohort of adults with CHD has high medical and psychosocial needs. Also, patients and advocacy groups are justifiably demanding their voices be heard in all phases of clinical and health services research. Objectives: 1. To include the patient voice in all phases of the research process. 2. To determine the key needs of patients living with CHD to guide health services research. 3. To identify the “top-ten” research priorities of teens and adults living with CHD.
Methods and Results
We conducted a first of its kind research-priority setting exercise with teens and adults with moderate to complex CHD. Focus groups were held using a fixed, mixed methods, exploratory sequential design. Thirty-five patients participated in one of nine 3-hour focus groups where they shared their experiences living with CHD. They expressed a desire for connection with others living with CHD and altruistic motives for participating. CHD patients identified a need for information about their disease and prognosis, a need for connection through physical activity and mentorship programs, and a need for advanced communication with health care teams. Qualitative results correlated well with quantitative ratings to create a patient-derived “Top 10” research priorities list.
Article Info
Publication History
P044
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.
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