The expectant father and prenatal diagnosis

Abstract

Few reports deal with men's reactions to prenatal diagnosis (PND). In the present study 20 men were interviewed after their partners had undergone PND. All men had felt that they and their wife had decided without pressure from others to carry out PND. Only n of the 20 were satisfied with the information received. Surprisingly few, seven of the 20, had good knowledge about the risk of congenital disorders and 12 of the 20 knew about the diagnostic method in question. the majority, 16 of the 20, considered extreme maternal anxiety as a reason for PND. While waiting for result, one-third had been distressed and 10 of the 20 had paid attention to the wife's worry. Half of them had not considered definitely how to act regarding abortion in the case of an abnormal result. Only 10 of the 20 reported considerable attachment to the future child. Most had experienced PND positively and wished for a test in another pregnancy. In many aspects these results resemble previous studies of women's experiences. However, the results indicated that the men were remarkably uninformed, weakly involved in the decision-making and weakly attached to the future child. Nevertheless, they were considerably worried and intended to give important support to their wife.