Objective: To investigate pregnant women's decisions about and attitudes towards Down syndrome screening, i.e. ultrasound at 11-14 weeks, Maternal Serum Markers (MSM) at 11-14 or 15-17 weeks and possibly invasive testing.
Method: Women having given birth to a non-affected child were asked to fill in a self-administered questionnaire during their stay at the maternity unit. In order to characterize women's decision-making behaviour, a hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted and logistic regressions were performed.
Results: Four hundred women were invited to participate in the study, and 391 returned the questionnaire. Both ultrasound and biochemical screening had been proposed to 88.3% of the women. Three clusters of women who were offered ultrasound and MSM were identified. Two clusters (52% and 42% of women) differed in active versus passive involvement in decision-making. Passively involved women frequently reported unawareness of the possibility of having to make decisions about invasive testing and/or termination of pregnancy. The third cluster (6% of women) consisted of women who declined MSM. Most of the women showed a preference for first-trimester screening, but actively involved women were willing to pay more for MSM.
Conclusion: Providing information about the sequence of decision possibly involved in screening could contribute to better informed decisions.
Copyright (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.