EVALUATION OF CHILD HEARING HEALTH POLICY IN THE STATE OF RIO GRANDE DO NORTE
Neonatal screening; Hearing Loss; Health Services Accessibility; Child.
Hearing impairment compromises the child's language development and learning process. The Neonatal Hearing Screening programs aim to identify and treat children with disabilities early and must be integrated into the Care Network for People with Disabilities. This thesis aims to evaluate the Neonatal Hearing Screening programs and the Care Network for People with Hearing Impairment aimed at children born in the cities of Natal and Santa Cruz in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. This is a cross-sectional study, using secondary data. The target population are children born in three municipal public maternity hospitals studied in the period 2015 to 2019. Three studies were developed, of which the first two refer to the program in Santa Cruz. The first evaluated the quality indicators of the newborn hearing screening program and found that of the eight indicators, only three, retest and referral rates for auditory diagnosis and age at screening completion, are within the recommended range, the others are inferior or null. The second assessed access to child hearing health services and the factors that influence access to a newborn hearing screening program in the state of Rio Grande do Norte and found an evasion in access to the service and completion of the diagnosis and children are assisted at later ages. The mother's age and education and the distance between the municipality and the service did not influence access to and use of the service. The third study verified the quality indicators of the three neonatal hearing screening programs and analyzed access to the Hearing Health Care Network for children in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Screening was not universal in maternity hospitals and access to the Network presents a high dropout rate, yet, therapeutic interventions were offered to children with hearing impairment. The results point to the need for improvements in screening programs both in maternity hospitals and in hearing health services, dropout is a problem and specialized assistance occurs late. The Network offered the treatment recommended by public policies for children with hearing impairment.