Authors: HUMPHREYS L.¹; CAPPELLI M.¹; HUNTER A.²; ALLANSON J.²; ZIMAK A.²

Source: Psychology, Health and Medicine, Volume 8, Number 3, August 2003 , pp. 266-278(13)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract:

The use of prenatal genetic counselling and testing for advanced maternal age (AMA) has increased dramatically in recent years. In many centres, women are encouraged to bring their partners to their genetic counselling appointments; however, a significant minority of partners does not attend. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a preliminary investigation into the role of partners through a comparison of women who attend with and without their partners. Participants were 345 women referred to a genetics clinic for AMA genetic counselling, of whom 222 (64%) attended with their partners and 123 attended alone. All participants completed a series of self-report measures both prior to and immediately after the counselling session. Contrary to hypotheses, women accompanied by their partners did not report greater psychosocial adjustment following genetic counselling. There were, however, some significant pre-counselling findings: women who were accompanied by their partners reported higher levels of state anxiety and decisional conflict before the session than did those who attended alone. Results suggest that a subgroup of women who experience greater indecision and anxiety surrounding prenatal diagnosis may have a greater need for support from their partners in reaching a decision. Partner attendance may thus reflect a coping strategy employed by these women to facilitate their decision making process. An alternate explanation is that the presence of the partner might contribute to increased anxiety and indecision among women.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1354850031000135713

Affiliations: 1: Psychology Research, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute Ottawa Ontario Canada 2: Genetics Patient Service Unit, CHEO Ottawa Ontario Canada

Publication date: 2003-08-01

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