Parental Opinions about the Expansion of the Neonatal Screening Programme.

Background: Advances in genomics will open up opportunities in the fields of genetic testing, early diagnosis and disease treatment. While neonatal screening is the field of application par excellencefor these developments, the debate on its potential benefits and drawbacks is mainly theoretically driven and based on the opinions of professionals.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study of the perceptions, preferences and needs of parents (and parents to be) with respect to expansion of the neonatal screening programme. Seven focus group discussions were conducted. Using disease scenarios, 4 examples of conditions amenable to neonatal screening were discussed in depth. All focus group discussions were audio taped and content analysed.

Results: Participants thought that the medical benefits of screening were very important for the child. Assuming the availability of effective early medical treatment, almost 100% would be willing to participate in a screening programme. If such treatment were absent, their potential willingness would be much lower.

Conclusions: The divergence in attitudes and preferences we found in this study reflected the complexity inherent in any consideration of screening for additional conditions. To implement such options successfully and to direct applied research in genomics, it is important to develop a better understanding of the thinking of target groups, namely parents.