Provider Perspectives: Identification and Follow-up of Infants who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Perinatol
• Personal Author:
  Cree, Robyn A. ; Bitsko, Rebecca ; Grimm, Cheri ; Nash, Ashley ; Cahill, Eric S. ; Dunham, Eugenia ; Logan, Naeemah ; McKay, Susannah L. ; Martinez, David R. ; Gaffney, Marcus
• Description:
  Objective
  
  Without timely screening, diagnosis, and intervention, hearing loss can cause significant delays in a child’s speech, language, social, and emotional development. In 2019, Texas had nearly twice the average rate of loss to follow-up (LFU) or loss to documentation (LTD; i.e., missing documentation of services received) among infants who did not pass their newborn hearing screening compared to the United States overall (51.1 vs. 27.5%). We aimed to identify factors contributing to LFU/LTD among infants who do not pass their newborn hearing screening in Texas.
  
  Study Design
  
  Data were collected through semistructured qualitative interviews with 56 providers along the hearing care continuum, including hospital newborn hearing screening program staff, audiologists, primary care physicians, and early intervention (EI) program staff located in three rural and urban public health regions in Texas. Following recording and transcription of the interviews, we used qualitative data analysis software to analyze themes using a conventional content analysis approach.
  
  Results
  
  Frequently cited barriers included problems with family access to care, difficulty contacting patients, problems with communication between providers and referrals, lack of knowledge among providers and parents, and problems using the online reporting system. Providers in rural areas more often mentioned problems with family access to care and contacting families compared to providers in urban areas.
  
  Conclusion
  
  These findings provide insight into strategies that public health professionals and health care providers can use to work together to help further increase the number of children identified early who may benefit from EI services.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Attitude Of Health Personnel Deafness Female Health Services Accessibility Hearing Loss Humans Infant Infant, Newborn Interviews As Topic Lost To Follow-Up Male Neonatal Screening Qualitative Research Texas

  More +
• Keywords:
  Early Detection Early Intervention Infant Hearing Newborn Hearing Screening
• Source:
  Am J Perinatol. 41(Suppl 1):e694-e710
• Pubmed ID:
  36037854
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10140186
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  41
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:08591bc3c7282de85ca183859fc8b97bd07192c7978f5ed7e39f68e8ca5f6adcaa15fd541cc6fd463797926923a9a2319377f22e161b5c6dc9dd237e698514be
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/127693/cdc_127693_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 562.06 KB ]