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

Year 2023, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 79 - 83, 15.01.2023

Emre Söylemez , Engin Karaboya , Süha Ertuğrul , Nihat Yılmaz , Ahmet Kizmaz , Muhammed Harun Bayrak , Abdulkadir Ilgaz

https://doi.org/10.37990/medr.1163216

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

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