Decision-making factors in prenatal testing: A systematic review

Valentina Di Mattei; Federica Ferrari; Gaia Perego; Valentina Tobia; Fabio Mauro; Massimo Candiani

doi:10.1177/2055102920987455

Decision-making factors in prenatal testing: A systematic review

Health Psychol Open. 2021 Jan 13;8(1):2055102920987455. doi: 10.1177/2055102920987455. eCollection 2021 Jan-Jun.

Authors

Valentina Di Mattei^{1

2}, Federica Ferrari², Gaia Perego³, Valentina Tobia¹, Fabio Mauro², Massimo Candiani^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy.
² IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Italy.
³ University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.

Abstract

This review examines the factors that affect the decision-making process of parental couples evaluating prenatal screening and diagnostic tests. A systematic search was performed using PubMed and PsycInfo databases. The 46 included studies had to: investigate the decision-making process about prenatal testing; focus on tests detecting trisomy 21, 18, 13, and abnormalities of sex chromosomes; be published in English peer-reviewed journals. The decision-making process seems composed of different levels: an individual level with demographic, clinical, and psychological aspects; a contextual level related to the technical features of the test and the information received; a relational level involving family and society.

Keywords: clinical health psychology; genetic testing; health care; pregnancy; systematic review.

Publication types

Review