The family of a child with a mental illness is a significant source for his support in harmonizing his development and achieving successful socialization.

The objective of the survey is to develop a psychoeducational program for parents.

Questionnaire “Parental attitude to children’s illnesses” (V.E. Kagan, I.P. Zhuravleva) Parents of 39 (22 mothers and 17 fathers) children aged from 3 to 6 with ASD - autism spectrum disorders (F84.01; F84.02; F84.11).

Parents of children with ASD often do not realize the morbid nature of changes in the children`s behavior and interpret them as spontaneity, pamperedness or even giftedness. Most parents underestimated the doctor’s recommendations for compliance with the treatment regime. Taking into account the parents` complaints and the difficulties of understanding the child`s problems, a psychoeducational course was developed, including 7 sessions: 1. acquaintance; 2. the concept of ASD, etiological factors, features of manifestation; 3. the role of the family in the treatment and rehabilitation process; 4. development of mental functions in children with ASD; 5. emotional development of children with ASD; formation of communication skills and social adaptation; 6. training organization and correctional and developmental classes for children with ASD; 7. summing up. The psychoeducational course is carried out in the form of group thematic seminars 7 meetings once a week for 1.5-2 hours. After completing the course, some families remain on individual psychological follow-up.

Completing a psychoeducational course makes it possible to fill the lack of information regarding the disease and treatment tactics, increases compliance and harmonizes parent-child relationships.

No significant relationships.

Our previous work demonstrated that digital video recording of operations is the best way to describe the morphological features and complex dynamic physiology of surgical treatment of congenitally malformed hearts. Parental consent is required for video recording, and some parents have requested, and obtained, a copy of the video of the operation performed on their child. Our present aim was to explore their feelings and opinions having viewed the recording of the surgical procedures.

This exploratory study examined the views of 17 parents, comprising 7 couples, 2 mothers, and 1 father, after requesting, and then watching, the recording of the operation performed on their child. The audio-taped, semistructured interviews were analyzed for the thematic content.

All parents watched the videos at least once, and no parent exhibited distress as a result. Curiosity and desire for learning, and wanting to know what exactly happened to the child during the operation, were the most common reasons for requesting the video. Parents reported that the videos were also useful in sharing the experience with family and friends. The videos had no effect on the attitudes of the parents towards the surgical team. Parents made recommendations to increase the length of the edited videos and add labels and voice-overs.

Parents of children with congenitally malformed hearts want to watch the recording of the operation performed because of their need for information, and to understand the experience of their children when separated from them. Research is needed to assess the potential value of operative videos in facilitating parental knowledge and coping when children undergo major cardiac surgery.