Women's Concerns and Experiences of Fetal Anomaly Screening Process: A Qualitative Study.
Zohreh Khakbazan, Farnaz Farnam, Parsa Abdollahi and 1 others
PMID 36650843WHAT IT FOUND
Pregnant women in Iran described fetal anomaly screening as distressing because they did not understand results, waited too long, and felt poorly supported.
They asked for clearer counselling about screening versus diagnosis, timing, costs, and legal limits.
Key findings
01Women were worried because they did not understand medical terms or the difference between screening and diagnostic tests.
02Waiting for results disrupted daily life and raised fear of missing the legal abortion window; high-risk results caused emotional turmoil.
03Women described inadequate counselling and high test costs as unmet needs from the health system.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was qualitative and did not test an intervention or measure anxiety, decision quality, or other outcomes. Findings are from Iranian pregnant women and healthcare providers in Tehran, so they may not apply to other countries, health systems, or legal contexts. High-income pregnant women were less likely to attend the recruitment settings, so their views may be underrepresented. Qualitative research is not intended to be representative, and the authors state the findings are not generalizable to other contexts.
Declared interests
The article was extracted from a PhD dissertation and was financially supported by the Research Administration of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that fetal anomaly screening causes lasting harm or that a specific counselling approach reduces anxiety. The study reports experiences from a small Iranian sample and did not compare groups or test an intervention.