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To know or not to know – parents’ attitudes to and preferences for prenatal diagnosis

Ekelin, Maria LU ; Persson, Linda ; Välimäki, Adina and Crang Svalenius, Elizabeth LU (2016) In Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology 34(4). p.356-369
Abstract

Objective: To highlight expectant parents’ attitudes concerning prenatal diagnosis, what the parents wish to know and what they chose not to know about their unborn baby, also in what form and to what extent they wish for prenatal diagnosis. Background: Parents have to make decisions concerning prenatal diagnosis. Screening programmes change rapidly and there is a need for parental influence on this development. Methods: An interview study with 10 women in late pregnancy and six partners. Results: The main categories ‘A time for preparation’ and ‘A lot but not everything’ included the parents’ positive attitudes towards prenatal diagnosis, especially if it could be carried out in early pregnancy and was of help for the baby, but also... (More)

Objective: To highlight expectant parents’ attitudes concerning prenatal diagnosis, what the parents wish to know and what they chose not to know about their unborn baby, also in what form and to what extent they wish for prenatal diagnosis. Background: Parents have to make decisions concerning prenatal diagnosis. Screening programmes change rapidly and there is a need for parental influence on this development. Methods: An interview study with 10 women in late pregnancy and six partners. Results: The main categories ‘A time for preparation’ and ‘A lot but not everything’ included the parents’ positive attitudes towards prenatal diagnosis, especially if it could be carried out in early pregnancy and was of help for the baby, but also their negative attitudes toward information about possible future diseases that could not be prevented and towards invasive diagnosis. The parents had confidence in the caregivers’ offers of screening programmes, but described their own attitudes as changing from before pregnancy, when newly pregnant and after their ultrasound examination. The parents described themselves as partly lacking knowledge about what the existing options for prenatal diagnosis involved. Conclusions: There is a great need for competent caregivers to inform the parents-to-be about the different methods for fetal diagnosis available to them and also what information the different methods can give. Partners need to be involved in the decision-making process.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
attitudes, information, parents, preferences, Prenatal diagnosis
in
Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology
volume
34
issue
4
pages
14 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:84978132510
  • wos:000382547000004
ISSN
0264-6838
DOI
10.1080/02646838.2016.1200019
project
Promoting early childhood health; supporting parents, vulnerable children and challenged families
LUC3 - Lund University Child Centered Care
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6ba568a6-efbf-412a-8f3f-8e3d87b4bc69
date added to LUP
2016-07-26 09:16:56
date last changed
2024-01-04 10:22:11
@article{6ba568a6-efbf-412a-8f3f-8e3d87b4bc69,
  abstract     = {{<p>Objective: To highlight expectant parents’ attitudes concerning prenatal diagnosis, what the parents wish to know and what they chose not to know about their unborn baby, also in what form and to what extent they wish for prenatal diagnosis. Background: Parents have to make decisions concerning prenatal diagnosis. Screening programmes change rapidly and there is a need for parental influence on this development. Methods: An interview study with 10 women in late pregnancy and six partners. Results: The main categories ‘A time for preparation’ and ‘A lot but not everything’ included the parents’ positive attitudes towards prenatal diagnosis, especially if it could be carried out in early pregnancy and was of help for the baby, but also their negative attitudes toward information about possible future diseases that could not be prevented and towards invasive diagnosis. The parents had confidence in the caregivers’ offers of screening programmes, but described their own attitudes as changing from before pregnancy, when newly pregnant and after their ultrasound examination. The parents described themselves as partly lacking knowledge about what the existing options for prenatal diagnosis involved. Conclusions: There is a great need for competent caregivers to inform the parents-to-be about the different methods for fetal diagnosis available to them and also what information the different methods can give. Partners need to be involved in the decision-making process.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ekelin, Maria and Persson, Linda and Välimäki, Adina and Crang Svalenius, Elizabeth}},
  issn         = {{0264-6838}},
  keywords     = {{attitudes; information; parents; preferences; Prenatal diagnosis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{356--369}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology}},
  title        = {{To know or not to know – parents’ attitudes to and preferences for prenatal diagnosis}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02646838.2016.1200019}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/02646838.2016.1200019}},
  volume       = {{34}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}