| Title | Prenatal Ultrasound Screening for Down Syndrome and Informed Choice. The Influence of Previous History Increased Risk for Down Syndrome | |
| Author | Kleanthi Gourounti1, Chrysavgi Zerva2, Elena Gavriil2, Christina Nanou1 | |
| Affilations | 1Lecturer; 2Graduate; Department of Midwifery, Technological Institution of Athens (TEI) of Athens, Egaleo, Athens, Hellas | |
| Citation | Gourounti K., Zerva C., Gavriil E., Nanou C. : Prenatal Ultrasound Screening for Down Syndrome and Informed Choice. The Influence of Previous History Increased Risk for Down Syndrome, Review Clin. Pharmakol. Pharmakokinet. Int. Ed. 29(1): 37-41 (2015) | |
| Publication Date | Accepted for publication (Final Version): March 10, 2015 |
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| Full Text Language | English | |
| Order – Buy | Ηλεκτρονική Μορφή: pdf (15 €) – Digital Type: pdf (15€) pharmakonpress[at]pharmakonpress[.]gr |
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| Keywords | Informed choice, pregnancy, prenatal screening | |
| Other Terms | review article | |
| Summary | Screening for Down syndrome has become routine in the perinatal care in Greece. Therefore, making informed choice must be guaranteed. The term ‘informed choice’ has two components, the level of knowledge and the attitude of pregnant women. The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of knowledge and the attitude of pregnant women towards screening for Down syndrome and calculate whether the Greek pregnant women make an informed choice. Also, another parameter of the study was to investigate whether the levels of knowledge and attitude vary in case of a previous pregnancy with a positive screening test for Down syndrome. DESIGN: In the context of a field study, questionnaires were completed by pregnant women who agreed to participate after being fully informed for the research purposes. The sample collection was carried out in the antenatal part of a public hospital in Athens. The sample collection was completed in a period of two months from April to June 2014. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study included 150 pregnant women with gestational age between 11th and 24th week who had come to the antenatal department of hospital in order to undergo an ultrasound screening for Down syndrome. Data collection was done using two questionnaires which were given to women shortly before attending their appointment. The questionnaires Multidimensional Measure of Informed Choice and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory were used in order to measure the informed choice and the level of anxiety, respectively. The questionnaires were translated and standarized in Greek language. RESULTS: 100% of women showed a positive attitude towards screening for Down syndrome and 33.3% had good knowledge concerning the screening process for Down’s syndrome. Therefore 33% of women made an informed choice. It was also observed that there is no statistically significant difference in the level of knowledge among women who had undergone a screening for Down syndrome in the past and those who did not. Furthermore, we found that there is no statistically significant difference in the level of knowledge among women who had received a previous positive result for Down syndrome and those who had not received similar results before. In addition, no correlation was observed between anxiety and the educational level of women. CONCLUSIONS: Health care professionals should provide information on women, with personalized and comprehensive way in order to improve their level of knowledge. This information should be suited to women’s learning ability in order to increase their knowledge before undergoing screening. It was also observed that the knowledge component was not decisive for the calculation of informed choice, thus efforts should aim to ensure consistency between attitudes and behavior of women in order to increase the percentage of making informed decisions on such a major issue of prenatal care as screening for Down syndrome. | |
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