Newborn Screening and Maternal Self-Confidence: The Interplay of Knowledge, Attitude and Caregiving

Objective: This descriptive and relationship-seeking type study was aimed at investigating the knowledge and attitudes of mothers who have just given birth about newborn screening and the factors affecting their self-confidence.Methods: The study was carried out with 200 individuals. Tools used to collect the data were the "Personal Information Form", "Maternal Knowledge and Attitudes Scale About Newborn Screening" and the "Pharis Self-Confidence Scale". The study was conducted at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic of a hospital in a province with the highest annual total fertility rate in Turkey.Results: Of the mothers participating in the study 65.5% had no prior knowledge of the Neonatal Screening Program, and 70.5% had not received any information about the program beforehand. Correlation analysis revealed a weak but statistically significant negative correlation between the Maternal Knowledge and Attitudes Scale About Newborn Screening scores and the Pharis Self-Confidence Scale scores (r=−0.263, p