Educational DVD for parents of children with congenital heart disease - a pilot study.

Parental knowledge regarding their child's congenital heart defect (CHD) is limited. This study developed and evaluated an interactive DVD that helped parents to understand their child's CHD. A DVD describing four cardiac abnormalities was created using videos and Adobe Flash. The parents' knowledge was assessed via a questionnaire before and after receiving the DVD. A control group did not receive the DVD. The DVDs were successfully created and improved the parental knowledge of their child's cardiac anomaly. The pilot study suggests the need for further development of DVDs to describe additional abnormalities, whilst incorporating local management and outcomes.