The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of newborn hearing screening on parental stress and the effect of support systems of families whose infants received a diagnosis of hearing loss. Parental anxiety was assessed at critical time points across the screening and diagnostic spectrum. Families of 26 children with hearing loss participated in this retrospective semi-structured interview study, which included the Family Support Scale and the Impact of Chronic Illness Scale. Child mean adj. age was 53 mos., SES 37, 81% primary language English, 62% private insurance, and 31% familial history of hearing loss. At the time of the interview child hearing loss ranged from sensorineural (n=19, 15 bilateral) to conductive hearing loss (n=7). Findings: 46% of parents described being worried to very worried at the initial screen, 50% at the rescreen, and 58% at the diagnostic stage, p =.001. Degree of Worry[n, (%)] is shown Table

Table 1 No caption available.
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At the initial screen ↓ parental anxiety was correlated to ↑ total support score r= -0.42, p<0.03, and ↑ immediate family support r= -0.47, p<0.02. Also, ↑ anxiety was correlated to ↑ disruption in planning r=0.55, p< 0.004 and ↑ familial burden r=0.42, p< 0.04. At the diagnostic stage, ↓ anxiety was correlated to ↑ total support score r=0.49, p<0.02 and ↑ informal kinship score r= -.46, p<0.02. Stratification by amplification status (hearing aids n=14, no aids n=12) revealed that families of children with hearing aids find it more difficult to find a reliable caretaker, p<0.02. Conclusions: These findings suggest that families of children with hearing loss experience ↑anxiety as they proceed through the screening and diagnostic processes. Anxiety plays a disruptive role in family life, however, family support sources reduce such anxiety.