Parental experiences of the newborn hearing screening programme in Wales: a postal questionnaire survey.

Objectives: To evaluate parental experiences and satisfaction with Newborn Hearing Screening Wales, which was set up over 18 months in 2003-04 to provide an all-Wales neonatal hearing screening programme.
Methods: A postal questionnaire was developed and piloted, then distributed to mothers of babies who had recently been screened.
Results: General satisfaction levels were high. Women were less satisfied with the information provided than with staff or the test itself. Women whose babies had had no clear responses on initial screening were significantly more likely to feel that the test upset their baby (P<0.05) and that there were things they were unhappy with about the screening programme (P<0.01). These women also reported significantly more anxiety after screening than women whose babies had clear initial responses (P<0.01).
Conclusions: The survey results provide a baseline against which future user satisfaction surveys of neonatal hearing screening programmes can be evaluated. They highlight significant differences in user satisfaction between those whose babies had clear responses on initial screening and those who did not, and point to areas where improvement may be possible.