The Relationship Health Workers’ Knowledge and the Implementation of Congenital Hypothyroidism Screening: An Analytical Observational Study of Training, Standard Operating Procedures, and Facilities

Background: Congenital Hypothyroidism Screening (SHK) is a crucial component of newborn screening, enabling early detection and timely management to prevent permanent growth and developmental disorders. Objective: To analyze the relationship between healthcare workers' knowledge levels regarding SHK and factors such as training, adherence to Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) items, and the availability of SHK facilities. Methods: This was an observational analytic study with a cross-sectional design involving 121 healthcare workers. Knowledge was assessed using 13 items, with scores ranging from 0 to 13. Spearman correlation was used to analyze the relationship between knowledge scores and one training item, 19 SOP items, and two facility-related items. Results: The median knowledge score was 9 (range: 6–13); 91 workers (75.2%) were categorized as having "sufficient" knowledge, 28 (23.1%) as "good," and 2 (1.7%) as "poor." Training was not significantly associated with knowledge (rₛ=0.156; p=0.087). Eleven of the 19 SOP items showed a significant relationship with knowledge at α=0.05, with coefficients ranging from 0.187 to 0.422. Both facility-related items were also significantly associated with knowledge (rₛ=0.421; p<0.001 and rₛ=0.304; p<0.001). Conclusion: There is a positive and significant relationship between healthcare workers' knowledge and SHK implementation (rₛ=0.420; p<0.001); therefore, efforts to enhance knowledge and competence, ensure SOP adherence, and improve facility availability need to be continuously strengthened.