Psychological impact of prenatal diagnosis and post procedure options

Prenatal diagnosis is associated with psychological challenges, which may affect the response of women before, during or after the procedure, as well as their decision on the future of an affected pregnancy. This prospective study was to evaluate the psychological impact of prenatal diagnosis, factors that may be contributory as well as the post procedure options. Questionnaires were administered to 50 pregnant women after pre-procedure counseling and responses revalidated after the procedure. The period of maximum psychological impact in relation to the procedure, factors that may be contributory and the possible decision on an affected pregnancy were determined. All of them were psychological anxious. The post-procedure period was the most (55.0%) impact full. The fear of an unfavorable result was the predominant factor (74.0%) while cost was the least factor (14.0%) that contributed to their psychological anxiety. Post procedure anxiety was commoner among women with a previous SS child. Seventy percent would terminate an affected fetus and 20.0% would decide when the results were out. Majority (88.0%) would choose to have the procedure in a future pregnancy. The study advocates post procedure counseling as part of counseling programme. Keywords: Psychological, anxiety, chorionic villus sampling (CVS) Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences Vol. 5 (2) 2006: 83-8