Women's and health professionals' preferences for prenatal testing for Down syndrome in Australia

Abstract

Aim: To describe and compare women's and health professionals' preferences for prenatal screening tests for Down syndrome. Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey. Participants and setting: Women (n = 322) attending for a glucose challenge test at 26 weeks gestation and health professionals (266 midwives and 34 obstetricians) at the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, between 13 December 2002 and 30 April 2003. Outcome measures: The relative value participants attach to attributes of Down syndrome screening tests as determined by conjoint analysis and ranking scales. Results: Women and health professionals shared similar relative values regarding the importance of detection rate of scree..