Here you will find information
on frequently asked questions

Pregnant women whose unborn child was diagnosed with congenital heart disease during pregnancy can participate in the study.
All participants must be adult and fluent in German or English. Unfortunately, we cannot offer other languages, as we want to ensure that all women receive information and support in their mother tongue as far as possible.

Participation is possible within a couple of days after diagnosis, but unfortunately not later. We want to measure the acute emotional burden after diagnosis, which is why we decided on this time frame. To ensure that data is comparable and meaningful, this procedure must be as consistent as possible.

You can decide at any time to no longer participate in the study. If you withdraw your consent, all data will be deleted. If you wish to discontinue participation but agree to us using the data collected up to that point, we would include it in our evaluation.

The reason is that not only data of the mother and the unborn child are collected, but also data of the newborn child. Theoretically, the partner would only have to sign after birth of the child and only if paternity is recognised or joint custody exists. Since we need the consent of both parents (if applicable) to look at data of the newborn, we have the partner sign directly at the beginning, if possible.

No, there are no additional examinations. There are 3 appointments at which we send you questionnaires (duration of answering will take approx. 5-15 minutes each time). Besides that, we only use medical data that is routinely collected.

The sessions can usually be arranged at relatively short notice. You can write an email to the study psychologist Louise Teschemacher, or simply call (see contact). The session can take place on the phone or digitally; if you wish, you can also come to the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité at Campus Virchow (Berlin Wedding) for this. Your partner can also make use of this offer. You alone decide whether you find a single conversation or several sessions helpful - the length and frequency of the sessions depend on your needs. The content of these conversations is, of course, strictly confidential. This offer is free of charge.

We will publish a summary of the most important results here on the website as soon as they are available. We also intend to publish the results of the study in scientific journals and will also refer to these publications here on the website. However, this will only happen after the data collection has been completed and the data has been analysed. We expect the first publications end of 2024/ beginning of 2025.

No. All data is stored pseudonymously, i.e. it cannot be directly traced back to the participants. The data is evaluated quantitatively, which means that only general statements are made about the sample, never about individual participants.