Maternity Care Providers' Experiences with Providing Information on Newborn Bloodspot Screening During Pregnancy: A Dutch Survey Study.

Abstract

Newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) aims to detect treatable disorders in newborns to offer early interventions. According to the official Dutch national NBS guidance, parents in the Netherlands should be informed about NBS during pregnancy by maternity care providers (MCPs), providing two leaflets and oral information. This study investigated what, how, and when information about NBS is given during pregnancy according to Dutch MCPs. An online questionnaire was completed by 279 MCPs; 237 (84.9%) provided information to parents themselves, although 4.6% of them only did so postnatally, and 240 (86.0%) considered this the task of the MCP. Among the 237 MCPs, information was provided by personal conversation (59.9%) and by giving at least one leaflet (83.1%), while 25.7% only gave leaflets. Being a first pregnancy (45.1%) and parents' literacy (38.8%) influenced how MCPs provided information. Information was mostly provided at 34-37 weeks gestation (68.8%). Conversations mostly included giving information on when NBS will be performed (97.2%), the purpose of NBS (93.7%), how the test will be performed (92.3%), and participation being voluntary (80.3%). The results suggest that while most Dutch MCPs consider it their task to provide NBS information, its timing, method, and completeness do not always follow the established guidelines.