[Neonatal screening: what mothers know about it in a maternity in the hinterland of the state of Paraná, Brazil].

This is a cross-sectional quantitative study quantitative held in the rooming area of a medium-sized hospital in the hinterlands of Paraná, Brazil. 40 mothers over 18 years participated in the study. The study aimed to examine what this population knows about the purpose and importance of completing the "Guthrie test" and also to characterize these mothers socio-demographically. The data were collected in May and June 2010 through a semi-structured questionnaire developed and implemented by the researchers themselves. The purpose of neonatal screening was known by 65% (n = 26) of the participants. The majority of them knew the purpose and knew about the importance of completing the "Guthrie test", a fact which shows the importance of the orientations these mothers must have on this subject even before the birth of the baby, still focusing on prenatal care, and emphasizing the importance of the role of nurses in this context.