{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T11:31:37Z","timestamp":1792150297845,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":14,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]],"date-time":"2026-01-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767744000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJNS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The aim of the evaluation was to gather information on parents\u2019 experiences and attitudes towards the Irish National Newborn Bloodspot Screening Programme (NNBSP). An interviewer-administered survey was completed by 151 parents whose babies underwent newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) between 2023 and 2025 and for whom the screening result was normal. Results suggest that NBS is highly acceptable to parents, with 100% glad their baby underwent screening. The majority (95%) felt they were provided the information needed to understand the importance of NBS for their baby, and 93% are in favour of screening for more conditions. Positive aspects of NBS reported by parents included the following: blood sampling being undertaken in the home, the sample-taker being very nice and being advised in advance to keep the baby\u2019s heel warm to ease the sampling process. Negative aspects of NBS reported included the following: having to return to the hospital for sampling, the baby becoming distressed, not receiving adequate information and not receiving the screening results. Parents were more likely to report negative experiences if the sample was not taken at home and if the sample was taken by a healthcare professional other than a public health nurse. Parents offered recommendations for improvements to the programme. This study provides important insights into parents\u2019 experiences and attitudes towards NBS in Ireland.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijns12010002","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]],"date-time":"2026-01-07T08:26:56Z","timestamp":1767774416000},"page":"2","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Parent Experience and Attitudes Towards Newborn Bloodspot Screening in Ireland"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Mair\u00e9ad","family":"Bracken-Scally","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Healthy Childhood Programme, Health Service Executive, R35 TY28 Offaly, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"O\u2019Loughlin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Newborn Bloodspot Screening Laboratory, Children\u2019s Health, D01 YC67 Dublin, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Heather","family":"Burns","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Healthy Childhood Programme, Health Service Executive, R35 TY28 Offaly, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Loeber, J.G., Platis, D., Zetterstr\u00f6m, R.H., Almashanu, S., Boemer, F., Bonham, J.R., and Schielen, P.C. (2021). Neonatal screening in Europe revisited: An ISNS perspective on the current state and developments since 2010. Int. J. Neonatal Screen., 7.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijns7010015"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Therrell, B.L., Padilla, C.D., Borrajo, G.J., Khneisser, I., Schielen, P.C., Knight-Madden, J., and Kase, M. (2024). Current status of newborn bloodspot screening worldwide 2024: A comprehensive review of recent activities (2020\u20132023). Int. J. Neonatal Screen., 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijns10020038"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Department of Health (2025, October 23). National Rare Disease Strategy 2025\u20132030, Available online: https:\/\/www.gov.ie\/en\/department-of-health\/publications\/national-rare-disease-strategy-2025-2030\/."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Health Service Executive (2025, December 15). HSE National Healthy Childhood Programme Screening Prtogrammes Report 2024. 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Med."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Armstrong, B., Christensen, K.D., Genetti, C.A., Parad, R.B., Robinson, J.O., Blout Zawatsky, C.L., and BabySeq Project Team (2022). Parental attitudes toward standard newborn screening and newborn genomic sequencing: Findings from the BabySeq study. Front. Genet., 13.","DOI":"10.3389\/fgene.2022.867371"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"van der Pal, S.M., Wins, S., Klapwijk, J.E., van Dijk, T., Kater-Kuipers, A., Van der Ploeg, C.P., and Henneman, L. (2022). Parents\u2019 views on accepting, declining, and expanding newborn bloodspot screening. PLoS ONE, 17.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0272585"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"van Dijk, T., Kater, A., Jansen, M., Dondorp, W.J., Blom, M., Kemp, S., and Henneman, L. (2021). Expanding neonatal bloodspot screening: A multi-stakeholder perspective. Front. Pediatr., 9.","DOI":"10.3389\/fped.2021.706394"},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"4","article-title":"The Effect of Warm Foot Bath Applied Before Capillary Heel Blood Sampling for Term Newborns: A Randomized Controlled Trial","volume":"16","author":"Pazarcikc","year":"2024","journal-title":"Turk. Klin. J. Nurs. Sci."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"426","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jnn.2021.06.003","article-title":"The effect of two different lancets and heel warming on duration of crying and procedure time during blood sampling: A randomized controlled study","volume":"27","author":"Dur","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Neonatal Nurs."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nicholls, S.G., and Southern, K.W. (2013). Parental decision-making and acceptance of newborn bloodspot screening: An exploratory study. PLoS ONE, 8.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0079441"}],"container-title":["International Journal of Neonatal Screening"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2409-515X\/12\/1\/2\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]],"date-time":"2026-01-07T08:52:20Z","timestamp":1767775940000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2409-515X\/12\/1\/2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]]},"references-count":14,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3]]}},"alternative-id":["ijns12010002"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijns12010002","relation":{},"ISSN":["2409-515X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2409-515X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]]}}}