Decisional conflict, anxiety, and social support among Chinese pregnant women making further prenatal testing decisions.

Xiang, Jia-Ming; Gao, Ling-Ling

Objective: This study aimed to examine decisional conflict and identify its predictors in Chinese pregnant women who were making decisions about further prenatal testing after receiving a screening result of high-risk for Down syndrome. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2020 to July 2021 in Guangzhou, China. Two-hundred and sixty pregnant women receiving a screening result of high-risk for Down syndrome completed a questionnaire comprising the Decisional Conflict Scale, Self‐rating Anxiety Scale, and Social Support Rating Scale. Results: The mean decisional conflict score was 28.8 ± 13.6, representing a moderate level. Advanced age (≥35 years), having a religious belief, not knowing about non-invasive or invasive prenatal testing, choosing NIPT for further prenatal testing, high levels of anxiety, and low levels of social support were significant predictors of decisional conflict, explaining 28.4% of its variance (F = 18.115, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The results highlighted the necessity of assessing patients' decisional conflict and providing adequate interventions along the prenatal care trajectory. The results also showed that providing good support has an essential value for women by relieving their decisional conflict.

CHINA; DIAGNOSIS of Down syndrome; CROSS-sectional method; DOWN syndrome; RESEARCH funding; CONFLICT (Psychology); QUESTIONNAIRES; PREGNANT women; PRENATAL diagnosis; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; ANXIETY testing; SELF-report inventories; ANXIETY disorders; SOCIAL support; PATIENT decision making; PREGNANCY complications; MEDICAL screening; PATHOLOGICAL psychology; DISEASE risk factors

Journal of Reproductive & Infant Psychology, 2025, Vol 43, Issue 1, p34

0264-6838

Academic Journal

10.1080/02646838.2023.2232380