Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T16:14:40.725Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - New advances in prenatal genetic testing: the parent perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2014

Jane Fisher
Affiliation:
Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC), UK
Sean Kehoe
Affiliation:
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
Lyn Chitty
Affiliation:
University College Hospital, London
Tessa Homfray
Affiliation:
St George’s University of London
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC), which was established in 1988, is the only UK charity providing non-directive information and specialised support to parents before, during and after antenatal testing and when an abnormality is diagnosed in an unborn baby. Continuing support is offered for as long as required, whatever decision is made about the future of the pregnancy. ARC also runs a well-established training programme for healthcare professionals in communication skills, breaking bad news and supporting parent decision making, all in the context of antenatal testing

For more than 20 years, ARC's core support service has been its national helpline. We take calls from across the UK on all aspects of antenatal testing and its aftermath. This chapter will use ARC's extensive experience with expectant parents to explore the potential implications for them of new techniques in prenatal genetic testing, particularly advances in non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD).

Throughout the chapter I will refer to women and their partners as parents and the fetus as a baby, as this is how the vast majority of callers to ARC conceptualise themselves and their fetus from the earliest stages of the pregnancy.

ARC's contact with parents making decisions about invasive diagnostic tests

By far the most common call on the ARC helpline is from parents after a screening result or ultrasound finding, when they are deciding whether to have a diagnostic procedure, either chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis. Approximately half of all helpline contacts by phone or email are of this kind.

Type
Chapter
Information
Reproductive Genetics , pp. 199 - 204
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×