title: Maternal decisions regarding prenatal diagnosis: rational choices or sensible decisions?
abstract: The premise underlying prenatal testing is that knowing the health status of the fetus will enable expectant parents to make rational reproductive decisions. Accordingly, rational-choice perspectives have informed both counselling protocols and the majority of investigations into the psychological processes involved in making decisions about testing and selective abortion. However, because conditions inherent in the testing situation may not adhere to the basic assumptions of rational choice models, the use of these models may be inappropriate. The individualistic focus of rational choice models may be too narrow to encompass the social and psychological factors relevant to making a decision about testing. In light of these limitations, we make a case for adopting a contextual framework for conceptualizing decisions regarding the use of prenatal testing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon SK.
authors.forename: Karen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon SK.
authors.forename: Roger A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Pierson
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis