Abstract
In order to improve the acceptability of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) among parents, several authors have proposed that information about hearing screening be provided to them. The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that mothers who are informed about their baby’s hearing test are more likely to have a positive attitude towards hearing screening than are mothers who are not informed. Information given to mothers was assessed by three items concerning their involvement in their baby’s hearing test. Subjects were 90 mothers who were interviewed during their stay at the maternity unit alter delivery. Mothers’ attitudes towards the screening were assessed through their answer to the following question: ‘Should UNHS be performed despite the possibility that parents become worried by false-positive test results?’ Mothers who answered ‘Yes’ were categorized as advocates of UNHS, whereas those who answered ‘No’ or ‘Undecided’ were categorized as sceptics. The great majority of mothers (84%) turned out to be advocates. In keeping with the hypothesis, among advocates a significantly higher proportion of mothers were well-informed about the hearing test (78%, versus 50%; p = 0.016), were present at the hearing test (51 %versus 14%; p<0.01) or knew the result of the hearing test (71 % versus 29%; p<0.01). These findings support the view that providing information about the hearing test will positively affect parental altitude towards UNHS.
