Pregnant women's expectations concerning universal newborn hearing screening

To implement universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) for maximum effectiveness, it is necessary - in addition to implementing a reliable screening procedure when testing the child - to consider psycho-social factors relevant in this context. In this respect parental estimations and expectancies play an important role. In a questionnaire survey 187 expectant mothers were asked about their knowledge and attitudes concerning UNHS, and their expectations concerning the availability of concrete support if their child were to have positive test results at the primary postnatal screening. A self-developed scale was conducted asking the mothers to make statements regarding their attitude about UNHS, possible risks (parent-child relationship, stress experiences) as well as concrete expectations concerning support (counseling, contacts with other persons concerned, informative literature). The results show that the expectant mothers in this study expressed high approval for conducting UNHS. This is comparable with results from former studies. In addition, as many as a quarter of the expectant mothers expressed worries relating to the effects on the parent-child relationship and higher parental stress levels. In nearly all areas investigated, at least half of the expectant mothers said that providing targeted support if necessary is important to help them cope sufficiently with the challenges associated with the consequences of UNHS. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of a reliable tracking system as required by the guidelines for using UNHS to detect children's hearing loss at an early stage. The data suggest that in order to use UNHS responsible, consultations should be offered immediately to affected families. This would allow parents to have psycho-social support available as the need arises to cope with the primary screening results; further, this support should help parents learn about other family-centered support services such as case management.