Anxiety Status in Parents of Infants Referred During National Newborn Hearing Screening

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to investigate the anxiety status in parents of infants who received pass and refer results during newborn hearing screening (NHS).
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on parents (mother and father) of a total of sixty infants who came to the NHS. All infants underwent automated (A)-ABR. Forty parents of 20 infants who were born healthy and received NHS-pass results were included in the study as group I. Forty parents of 20 infants who were born healthy and received NHS-refer results were included in the study as group II. Forty parents of 20 infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for at least five days and received NHS-refer results were included in the study as group III. Beck Anxiety Inventory was administered to all parents in the groups.
Results: When the anxiety levels were evaluated according to the groups, the anxiety scores of the parents in group III were higher than those in group I and group II (p<0.05). However, no difference was found between the parents’ anxiety levels in group I and group II. When the anxiety scores were compared according to the genders, there was no difference in the anxiety scores of the fathers between the groups (p>0.05). However, mothers in Group III had higher anxiety scores than mothers in Group I (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Mothers of infants hospitalized in the NICU who received the NHS-refer result had higher anxiety levels than mothers who were born healthy and received the NHS-pass result. In order to keep the anxiety level of mothers of babies hospitalized in NICU under control, training can be organized for these mothers.

Keywords

• Hearing
• Screening
• ABR
• Audiology
• Newborn

References

1. 1. Hahn M, Lamprecht-Dinnesen A, Heinecke A et al. Hearing screening in healthy newborns: feasibility of different methods with regard to test time. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 1999;51:83-9.
2. 2. Thompson DC, McPhillips H, Davis RL et al. Universal newborn hearing screening: summary of evidence. JAMA. 2001;286:2000-10.
3. 3. Yoon PJ, Price M, Gallagher K et al. The need for long-term audiologic follow-up of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) graduates. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2003;67:353–7.
4. 4. Yoshinaga-Itano C. Benefits of early intervention for children with hearing loss. Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 1999;32:1089–102.
5. 5. Hess M, Finckh-Krämer U, Bartsch M et al. Hearing screening in at-risk neonate cohort. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 1998;46:81–9.
6. 6. Hille ET, van Straaten HI, Verkerk PH; Dutch NICU Neonatal Hearing Screening Working Group. Prevalence and independent risk factors for hearing loss in NICU infants. Acta Paediatr. 2007;96:1155–8.
7. 7. World Health Organization. WHO global estimates on prevalence of hearing loss. Geneva; 2012. Available from: http://www.who.int/pbd/deafness/estimates accessed date 10 August 2022
8. 8. World Health Organisation. Deafness and hearing impairment. 2008; Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs300/en/ index.html. accessed date August 10, 2022

9. 9. Olusanya BO, Neumann KJ, Saunders JE. The global burden of disabling hearing impairment: a call to action, Bull. World Health Org. 2014;92:367e73.
10. 10. Yoshinaga-Itano C, Sedey AL, Coulter DK, Mehl AL. Language of early and later-identified children with hearing loss. Pediatrics. 1998;102: 1161–71.
11. 11. Uzcategui CA, Yoshinaga-Itano C. Parents’ reactions to newborn hearing screening. Audiol Today. 1997;9:24–7.
12. 12. Beaula Vincy VK, Seethapathy J, Boominathan P. Parental anxiety towards ‘refer’ results in newborn hearing screening (NHS) in south India: A hospital based study. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2019;116:25-9.
13. 13. Tueller SJ, White KR. Maternal Anxiety Associated with Newborn Hearing Screening. Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention. 2016;1:87-92.
14. 14. Suppiej A, Cainelli E, De Benedittis M et al. Failure of hearing screening in high-risk neonates does not increase parental anxiety. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2013;26:932-5.
15. 15. Joint Committee on Infant Hearing. Position statement 2007: principles and guidelines for early hearing detection and intervention programs. Pediatrics. 2007;120:898–21.
16. 16. Mohd Khairi MD, Rafidah KN, Affizal A et al. Anxiety of the mothers with referred baby during Universal Newborn Hearing Screening. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2011;75:513-7.
17. 17. Crockett R, Wright AJ, Uus K et al. Maternal anxiety following newborn hearing screening: the moderating role of knowledge. J Med Screen. 2006;13:20-5.