Prenatal tests: how are women deciding?
Women offered prenatal tests should be given sufficient information to enable them to make an informed decision. We compared the decision-making of 261 women who underwent serum screening for Down syndrome with 63 who did not. A questionnaire completed at 16 weeks' gestation assessed systematic decision-making (the weighing up of pros and cons on the basis of information presented), knowledge, anxiety and demographic information. Those undergoing screening were older but, with age partialled out, they had more knowledge about the test and made decisions less systematically than those not screened.
Michie
S
S
Psychology and Genetics Research Group, Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Hospitals' Medical and Dental School, Thomas Guy House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 9RT, U.K. susan.michie@kcl.ac.uk
Smith
D
D
Marteau
T M
TM
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D003657:Decision Making; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires