New UK research into informed choice in prenatal testing

Current antenatal screening arrangements do not always give parents the time or information they need to make decisions about their unborn babies, according to new research.

The study, which has been published today (10th July 2008) by Dr Heather Skirton, Deputy Head (for Research) of the School of Nursing and Community Studies, at the University of Plymouth, and Dr Owen Barr, Head of the School of Nursing, at the University of Ulster, raises a number of concerns about the way that antenatal screening is carried out ......

......Researchers gathered views from 135 prospective parents and 100 health professionals, mainly midwives, across the UK to find out what sort of information was given out at antenatal screenings and to find out how they felt the process could be improved. Their findings included:

• Parents felt that they did not have enough time to consider their decisions and that sometimes screening was not discussed until the second trimester. Many midwives said that they did not have enough time to spend on the issue of screening.
• Parents and midwives both felt that too much information was given about birth and postnatal care at early appointments at the expense of information about screening.
  Concerns were raised about how parents who have difficulty reading or those with English as a second language access printed information.
• Pregnant women and their partners felt that a decision about screening should be made by both parents but most midwives said that they only involved the father ‘if they happened to be present’.
• Concerns were expressed about the way that having a child with Down syndrome is presented as a wholly negative experience.

Click here to read the full text of the press release and to download a copy of the full text of the research report