Effectiveness of a Health Education Programme Designed for Public Health Midwives(PHMs) on Screening for Congenital Hypothyroidism(CH), Southern Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background: Congenital Hypothyroidism (CH) is an inborn error in thyroid hormone production among newborns. CH causes mental retardation which can be prevented by early detection and treatment. The Nuclear Medicine Unit at the Faculty of Medicine, Galle has developed and implemented a new screening program to detect newborns with CH. An educational intervention was subsequently developed to enhance knowledge, attitudes and practices on CH screening among PHMs in Southern Sri Lanka. Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational programme designed for the PHMs on new born NBS for CH. Methodology: Quasi- Experimental study design was used. The intervention group (62 midwives) underwent 4 seperate educational sessions on CH and CH screening over a period of 8 weeks. Another two groups (a total of 74 PHMs) who were working in midwife areas far away from the midwife areas where the intervention group work were selected as controls. Pre and post evaluations were conducted using a selfadministered questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 21 items on iodine, 6 items on CH and 6 items on NBS for CH. Marks were allocated for each question and aggregated to 100 marks for each section. Higher scores indicate higher knowledge. Results: Significant improvements in knowledge on iodine (mean difference = 20, p=o.ooi), knowledge on CH (mean difference = 24, p=o.ooi), and knowledge on new born screening for CH (mean difference = 16, p=o.ooi) were observed in the intervention group. No significant improvements on knowledge on iodine, CH and newborn screening for CH were observed in the control groups. Conclusion: The intervention seems to be effective in increasing PHMs knowledge on factors associate with CH and CH screening. Long term evaluation on PHMs practices related to CH is needed.