Educational experience of children living with congenital heart disease: a systematic scoping review

Background:
Educational experience of children with CHD is often adversely impacted by factors such as medical burden, social and school functioning challenges. It is, therefore, vitally important that adequate support is provided at an early stage in order to facilitate better educational outcomes for this cohort. The role of the teacher is pivotal in supporting the overall healthy development of a child with CHD. Thus, it is important to understand how we can also support teachers to provide optimal support to this cohort. This systematic scoping review aimed to offer a comprehensive understanding of existing research in this area and identify any knowledge gaps.

Methods:
The methodological framework for scoping reviews developed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005) was employed.

Findings:
Children with CHD face educational challenges in cognitive, psychomotor, behavioural, and affective domains and also with school attendance. The main challenges for teachers include a lack of information around CHD and how it affects the individual child. Building a strong relationship and having frequent communication between the teacher/ parent/ child were considered key in alleviating anxiety and promoting a supportive environment.

Conclusions:
Children with CHD often require additional support from educational professionals in the classroom. Teachers of children with CHD would benefit from condition-specific training, updated on a regular basis.