Health Literacy and Newborn Screenings

NCT ID: NCT06544356

Last Updated: 2024-08-09

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Total Enrollment: 425 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-02-01
• Study Completion Date: 2023-08-30

Brief Summary

Health literacy, the ability to understand and use health information, is crucial in all health processes such as healthy living, disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and personal care. The newborn screening program (NSP) helps reduce morbidity and mortality by early diagnosing rare diseases in infants. Health literacy impacts parents' vaccination choices and attitudes, and higher health literacy is sometimes associated with lower adherence to vaccination protocols. Various studies highlight the significance of health literacy in childhood vaccinations, breastfeeding effectiveness, and attitudes toward YTP, emphasizing parents' lack of knowledge about NSP and the need for education. Notably, parents who give birth outside of hospitals have significant knowledge gaps regarding NSP.

Detailed Description

Health literacy involves clearly communicating and accurately understanding health information. It is defined as being related to all points in the care process, from promoting and enhancing healthy living to preventing and detecting diseases, diagnosing and decision-making, treating, and personal care.

The newborn screening program (YTP) is defined as the early diagnosis of rare presymptomatic congenital diseases by analyzing blood samples taken from infants' heels. YTP has been stated to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality rates in infants. YTP is used to detect many diseases, including hearing loss, congenital heart defects, endocrine disorders, hemoglobinopathies, congenital metabolic diseases, cystic fibrosis, spinal muscular atrophy, lysosomal storage disorders, and immunodeficiencies.

One study found that communicative health literacy was directly related to vaccination adherence compared to functional and critical health literacy. Parents with higher levels of communicative and critical health literacy were less likely to fully adhere to vaccination protocols. Attitudes towards vaccines and beliefs about the reliability of unofficial vaccine information sources serve as directly related factors in vaccination practices and are reported to mediate the relationship between health literacy and vaccination adherence.

Another study showed that health literacy was related to parents' preferences for the rotavirus vaccine. When vaccines were offered in the free market, parents with higher health literacy were less likely to vaccinate their newborns against rotavirus compared to parents with lower health literacy.

A descriptive study conducted with 279 parents of children aged 0-12 months in the central district of Kırıkkale province found that health literacy was not related to attitudes and behaviors towards childhood vaccinations.

In a study with a Latino population, one-third were found to have inadequate health literacy when measured by reading comprehension, and eight out of ten were inadequate when measured primarily by arithmetic. Furthermore, a significant relationship was reported between limited health literacy levels and lower antibiotic knowledge among Latino parents.

A study found that mothers' health literacy levels and breastfeeding effectiveness were adequate before hospital discharge. The study also indicated that health literacy level served as a protective factor against stopping breastfeeding.

Another study found that most mothers lacked knowledge about blood spots. Additionally, mothers believed that researching dried blood spots was a good thing.

A study evaluating mothers' views on YTP reported that 51.4% of mothers found their knowledge about newborn screening tests partially sufficient and 66.3% wanted information from healthcare personnel. It was also found that 54.8% of mothers knew some diseases could be inherited, 56% knew that genetic diseases were caused by consanguineous marriage, 51.3% knew these diseases could cause irreversible brain damage in infants, 42% knew they could lead to physical growth and development delays, and 48% knew that a diagnosis could be made with two drops of blood taken from the baby's heel. The study emphasized the important roles that nurses and other healthcare professionals should play.

A study evaluating the knowledge and attitudes of midwives and parents who gave birth outside hospitals regarding YTP indicated that midwives informed parents who gave birth in hospitals about YTP. However, parents who gave birth outside hospitals had significant knowledge gaps about YTP and expressed a desire for education on the subject

A study assessing various experiences and attitudes towards YTP found that while parents generally had a positive view of the screening process, some participants experienced significant frustration, particularly regarding how results were received.

Conditions

Health Literacy and Newborn Screening

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: OTHER
• Study Time Perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL

Study Groups

One grups

Mums who've just given birth, Over 18 years of age, literate mothers with at least primary school education

No intervention, questionnaire filled out

Intervention Type: OTHER

Mother introductory information form, Health Literacy Scale, Knowledge and Attitude Scale about Newborn Screenings were completed.

Interventions

No intervention, questionnaire filled out

Mother introductory information form, Health Literacy Scale, Knowledge and Attitude Scale about Newborn Screenings were completed.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Newly delivered mothers,
• At least primary school graduate and literate,
• Over 18 years of age,
• Accepted voluntary participation in the research,
• Mothers open to communication.

Exclusion Criteria

• Single individuals or without children,
• Under 18 years of age,
• Illiterate,
• Who did not accept voluntary participation in the research,
• Mums out of touch.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 50 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Yuzuncu Yıl University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Abdullah Adiyaman

Graduate Student

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Abdullah Adıyaman

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

abdullah.adiyaman@erzurum.edu.tr

Locations

Van Yuzuncu Yıl University

Van, , Turkey (Türkiye)

Countries

Turkey (Türkiye)

Other Identifiers

YuzuncıYıl 2

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id