Enhancing Informed Choice for Genetic Screening: A Pilot Study

Birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality. New tests offer screening for many fetal aneuploidies. These tests are offered very early in pregnancy and clients are faced with many options. This has made the education of the client more challenging and threatens the ability of the client to make an informed choice. The purpose of this project was to measure the level of informed choice women reported after making a decision on whether or not to have the many optional prenatal genetic screening tests. The level of informed choice was measured using the Multi-dimensional Measure of Informed Choice (MMIC), at a Midwestern private OB-GYN office. This capstone project was a small pilot study which included 26 prenatal clients. Seventy-five percent of the prenatal clients had good knowledge and 57 percent made an informed choice. Future studies and methods will focus on improving this reported level.