Psychosocial and executive functioning in children with congenital heart disease: do caregivers and teachers report the same behaviors?

Objective: This study aimed to examine psychosocial and executive functioning abilities in children with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) compared to normative expectations as well as explore agreement between caregiver and teacher informants on these domains. Although guidelines have proposed the administration of brief measures to multiple informants to monitor neurocognitive and psychosocial development, no research to date has examined the profiles of functioning in a clinically-referred sample or the degree to which reporters vary on their responses. Method: Caregivers and teachers of 71 clinically-referred children with complex CHD completed measures of executive and psychosocial functioning. Results: Compared to norms, caregivers and teachers of children with CHD endorsed significant impairment across all domains of executive functioning and multiple psychosocial domains. Informants endorsed impairment that was 2 to 5 times higher than observed in the general population. Conclusion: Measures of executive and psychosocial functioning indicate the presence of substantial impairment in clinically-referred children with CHD. The high rates of proxy-endorsed concerns of psychosocial and executive functioning deficits highlights the need for intervention and support services for children with complex CHD and their families.