Prenatal consultation after a fetal anomaly scan: videotaped exploration of physician's attitude and patient's satisfaction

Abstract

The main aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between the physician's attitude (using the non-verbal Global Affective Measure of the Roter Analaysis System and the Counselor Rating Form-short version) and the satisfaction of the pregnant women with the prenatal consultation. A secondary aim was to evaluate the women's recall of essential information (i.e. location, severity, prognosis and cause of the anomaly). To this end, 24 prenatal consultations (pregnant women, partners and physicians) were videotaped following a fetal anomaly scan, and a few days later, the pregnant women completed questionnaires to assess their perception of the physician's attitude and their satisfaction with the consultation and the extent to which they could recall the essentials of the information given about the fetal anomaly. In descending order, the physician's dominance/assertiveness (i.e. being self-confident and decisive) (assessment of the videotapes by two psychologists), trustworthiness (women's report) and expertise were significantly positively associated with the women's overall satisfaction, i.e. satisfaction with the information given and affective behaviour on the part of the physician during the prenatal consultation. All the women (n=24) recalled the essentials of the information given about the location of the fetal anomaly. The majority of them correctly reproduced the severity, the prognosis and the cause of the anomaly. Our findings indicate that women in whom a fetal anomaly has been detected derive particular benefit from a self-confident, decisive, expert and trustworthy physician.