The Social and Cultural Factors of Making Decisions regarding Prenatal Testing

我们进行了问卷调查和访谈，以检验产前检查的现实情况和妇女对检查的决策过程。在东京发放了900份问卷，回收了382份问卷，分析了375份有效问卷。然后，我们采访了26名女性，以详细了解每个问卷的回答，特别是关于产前检查的决策过程，以及她们与伴侣、医生和其他人的关系如何影响这些决定。结果如下：1)所有女性都进行了一次以上的超声检查。他们将这项测试视为与胎儿“见面”的机会，因此这些测试缓解了他们对怀孕的担忧。这不仅让女性，也让她们的男性伴侣意识到自己是父母。但是，在收到坏消息的情况下，比如试探性臀位先露或发育略有延迟，这些女性更担心。2)关于孕妇血清筛查和羊水穿刺术，接受检查的妇女充分了解结果的目的、风险和意义，并表示自己做出了决定。没有接受这些测试的女性以及对测试缺乏信息的女性表示，她们之所以选择测试，是因为她们的健康状况良好，而且年龄较小。一些人说，他们可以抚养残疾的孩子，和/或即使在这种情况下，他们也不想堕胎。但许多人解释说，他们不想面临艰难的选择，所以他们没有接受测试。此外，这些妇女倾向于回答说，由于她们的医生没有向她们提供信息，她们认为她们不需要接受测试。

We conducted a questionnaire survey and interviews to exam the reality of prenatal testing and women's decision-making process regarding testing. Nine hundred questionnaires were distributed in Tokyo, of which 382 were retrieved and 375 valid responses were analyzed. We then interviewed 26 women to understand each questionnaire response in detail, particularly the decision-making process regarding prenatal testing and how their relationships with partners, physicians and others influenced those decisions. The results were as follows :1)All of the women underwent ultrasound testing more than once. They saw the test as a chance to "meet" their fetuses, so the tests relieved their pregnancy-related worries. It also made not only the women but also their male partners conscious of being parents. But, in the case of receiving bad news, such as a tentative breech presentation or slightly delayed development, the women worried more. 2)Concerning the maternal serum screening and amniocentesis, women who underwent these tests sufficiently understood the purposes, risks, and meaning of the results and said they made the decision by themselves. Women who did not undergo these tests and who lacked information about the testing said that they did not choose the testing because of their good health and younger age. Some said they could rear a disabled child and/or they did not want to have an abortion even in such a case. But many explained that they didn't want to be faced with a hard choice so they didn't undergo testing. Furthermore, these women tended to answer that since their doctors did not provide them with the information, they assumed they did not need to be tested.