Women's experiences of non-invasive prenatal testing

While the uptake of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) continues to increase, the provision of pre-test genetic counseling remains unregulated in Australia. This study sought to characterise the experiences of women undergoing NIPT. We investigated participants’ perceptions of informed choice, genetic counseling experiences and decision to undergo NIPT. Women who had been recently pregnant volunteered to complete an online survey which assessed their knowledge of and attitude toward NIPT; satisfaction with genetic counseling; satisfaction of their decision, and decisional conflict to undergo NIPT. The survey also gathered pregnancy-specific and demographic information, and allowed participants to provide qualitative information about their counseling experience and reasons for undergoing NIPT. A total of 94 participants were included in the analysis. Overall, participants had good knowledge of and positive attitudes toward NIPT, experienced low decisional conflict and were overall satisfied with their genetic counseling experience and decision to undergo NIPT. Some participants however, expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of information provided and biased language by pre-test genetic counseling providers. The desire to be informed was the most frequent reason for undergoing NIPT. This study highlighted the importance of providing accurate and objective information in pre-test genetic counseling to reduce decisional conflict and improve satisfaction with the decision to undergo NIPT.