[The decision-making process of pregnant women with positive reaction to maternal serum screening for Down's syndrome when facing amniocentesis]

School of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, ROC.

The purpose of this study was to explore the decision-making process of pregnant women with positive reaction to maternal serum screening for Down's syndrome when facing amniocentesis. Seventeen pregnant women consented to participation in this study. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the grounded theory method. The findings revealed that there were four decision-making patterns. Each pattern could be grouped into three stages: post-acknowledgement transition, decision-making transition, and after-decision transition. Most participants had psychological reactions, which included shock, fear, nervousness, worry, sadness, and stress. Their concerns during the decision-making transition stage were: confirmation of health, normality, and safety of the fetus, fear of abortion due to amniocentesis, clarification of relations between amniocentesis and maternal serum screening, opinions from physicians and family members, and fear of artificial abortion for unhealthy fetus. Concerns during the after-decision transition stage were: information relating to amniocentesis, the management of an abnormal fetus, the place for amniocentesis, preparation before amniocentesis, and inadequate time for making a decision. Coping strategies were developed to deal with their concerns.

PMID: 11548212 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]