Early detection of infant hearing loss: Current experiences of health professionals in a developing country

Abstract

Doctors and nurses should routinely seek objective infant hearing assessment for timely detection of permanent hearing loss.

The hearing screening experiences and practices of primary health care nurses: Indications for referral based on high-risk factors and community views about hearing loss

“…Caregiver education was found to be successful in modifying health-seeking behaviour and reducing non-compliance in developing contexts, despite low education and literacy levels. 40 …”

“… 18 Furthermore, nurses need to understand the community beliefs about the causes of hearing loss to enable them to appropriately inform and educate caregivers about the risks and interventions. Studies by a number of authors 39 , 40 indicate that mothers or caregivers may hold superstitious beliefs about the causes of hearing loss that can delay intervention, with education having been found to be effective in modifying health-seeking behaviour and reducing non-compliance in developing contexts, despite low education and literacy levels.…”

Follow‐up default in a hospital‐based universal newborn hearing screening programme in a low‐income country

“…It was not unlikely that some primary care providers who were not familiar with the programme did not sufficiently motivate mothers to return for follow‐up. In fact, some health professionals still doubt that infants can be reliably tested at such an early age particularly when associated symptoms are not evident (Olusanya et al . 2006).…”

Follow-up in newborn hearing screening – A systematic review

“…Four studies (18%) suggested the need for increasing parental education as a major measure. Specifically, providing written screening results to parents [4], increasing communication between the parents and medical professionals [5], and distributing educational materials to increase knowledge were recommended [33].…”

“…At least 80% of these children live in low to middle-income countries [1,2]. In the absence of timely support and intervention, these children may experience lifelong difficulties in speech and language as well as complications in educational and vocational achievements [3][4][5].…”