Knowledge and attitude about New Born Hearing Screening among Gynaecologists: pre and post awareness session analysis

Background: The knowledge and attitudes of healthcare professionals, particularly gynaecologists, significantly impact the success of newborn hearing screening (NHS) programs. Aim: Aim of the study was to explore knowledge and attitudes related to NHS among gynaecologists and factors related to it. Method: It was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved the development of the awareness material and questionnaires assessing knowledge & attitude about NHS during the pre & post-awareness sessions. In the second phase, 45 gynaecologists filled out the questionnaire after attending the awareness session on NHS. Results and Conclusion: The gynaecologists displayed low to moderate awareness of NHS, with significant knowledge gaps in specific areas such as test protocols related to NHS and risk factors like maternal infection (TORCH) linked to congenital hearing loss on the pre-awareness questionnaire. The post-awareness questionnaire showed a significant improvement in their knowledge levels even though minimal changes in attitudes were noted. Many reported a lack of infrastructure and manpower as barriers to implementing NHS. No significant association was found between their work experience and pre-awareness knowledge scores. Thus, the present findings underscore the need for creating awareness about NHS among gynecologists.