Nurses promote openness regarding the genetic origins after gamete donation.
OBJECTIVE
To study attitudes and knowledge concerning different aspects of sperm and oocyte donation among paediatric nurses at child health care centres (CHCs) in Sweden.


METHODS
A study-specific questionnaire, to be completed anonymously, was sent to 188 nurses, 141 of whom (75%) responded.


RESULTS
The majority of the respondents (62%) stated that they had no professional experience of families created with the help of a donor. A majority (53%) stated that they had good knowledge of the procedure followed in sperm donation, whereas 43% stated that they had good knowledge of the procedure of oocyte donation. More than 80% agreed that the parents should be honest with their child with regard to the child's genetic origin. Among the respondents who were in favour of disclosure, the preferred age for informing the child varied between 0 to 19 years (mean 7.2, SD 5.7).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that the nurses working in CHCs need guidance and information about gamete donation in order to be able to support parents in the disclosure of information to their children and also how to inform or withhold information to significant others in their surrounding milieu.
Sydsjö
G
G
Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital, SE-58185 Linköping, Sweden. gunilla.sydsjo@lio.se
Lampic
C
C
Sunnerud
S
S
Svanberg
A Skoog
AS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D030881:Disclosure; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009726:Nurses; D018587:Oocyte Donation / Q000451:nursing*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires