2008 Barcelona - European Society of Human Genetics

Genetic counselling, education, genetic services, and public policy
women from other health districts for prenatal referrals, (40 .7% from
outside the provinces and 19 .5% from outside the Emilia Romagna
Region) .
Data of the primary care and specialists access to genetic services,
accuracy of prenatal diagnosis and time to diagnosis were analized to
provide information for the analysis of the committence, appropriateness
of referrals and to improve the organization of clinical genetics
services of in the Emilia Romagna region .
P09.54
Knowledge and understanding of prenatal screening and testing
before and after the introduction of information booklet
V. Stefansdottir1 , H. Skirton2 , J. J. Jonsson1 , H. Hardardottir1 ;
1 2 Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland, School of Nursing and
Community Studies, University of Plymouth, Taunton, United Kingdom.
Pregnant women considering prenatal screening need to have access
to accurate information, facilitating informed choice . Uniform information
about prenatal screening and testing was not available in Iceland
prior to this study .
The study aim was to assess general knowledge about prenatal
screening and diagnosis among pregnant women attending their first
antenatal visit . An information booklet was produced as a part of this
study . We compared the difference in knowledge and understanding
between pregnant women in the intervention group (having access to
the information booklet and normal care) (n=142) and women in the
control group (normal care) (n= 237) .
Women were recruited from five antenatal clinics in Iceland. The age
distribution, experience and education of participants were in accordance
with the general population . Overall 63% wanted information
from their midwives and 31 .7% from a doctor . Most had however, received
information from their gynaecologist (53%) and friends (40%) .
The majority (60%) wanted both verbal and written information . The
intervention group showed better knowledge when asked to explain
the tests in their own words (p