Experiences of nonpregnant couples after receiving reproductive genetic carrier screening results in Belgium.
Eva Van SteijvoortHilde PeetersHilde VandecruysJasper VergutsKaren PeeraerGert MatthijsPascal BorryPublished in: European journal of human genetics : EJHG (2023)
Reproductive genetic carrier screening (RGCS) allows for the identification of couples who have an increased likelihood of conceiving a child with a particular autosomal recessive or X-linked condition. The aim of this study was to assess the level of satisfaction, anxiety, knowledge retention, psychosocial and counseling-related aspects among couples who chose to have RGCS. Participants were initially informed about their screening results by telephone. After obtaining a written report of test results, participants were asked to complete an individual self-administered questionnaire. All participants (n = 67) felt they had enough information to make an informed choice. None of the participants regretted their choice to have RGCS. Test results were most often shared with parents (61%) or siblings (37%). Our findings demonstrate that the information/counseling and reporting strategy that was used in the context of this study led to high participant satisfaction, an increase in knowledge over time and favorable psychosocial and counseling-related outcomes.
Keyphrases
- mental health
- healthcare
- smoking cessation
- intellectual disability
- emergency department
- intimate partner violence
- autism spectrum disorder
- metabolic syndrome
- hiv infected
- skeletal muscle
- dna methylation
- copy number
- adipose tissue
- social media
- decision making
- depressive symptoms
- human immunodeficiency virus
- hepatitis c virus
- bioinformatics analysis