Background Pregnant women often find it difficult to choose from among the wide variety of available prenatal screening options. To help pregnant women and their partners make informed decisions based on their values, needs, and preferences, a decision aid and a web-based shared decision making (SDM) training program for health professionals have been developed. In Canada, nurses provide maternity care and thus can train as decision coaches for prenatal screening. However, there is a knowledge gap about the effectiveness of SDM interventions in maternity care in nursing practice. Objective This study aims to assess the impact of an SDM training program on nurses’ intentions to use a decision aid for prenatal screening and on their knowledge and to assess their overall impressions of the training. Methods This is a 2-arm parallel randomized trial. French-speaking nurses working with pregnant women in the province of Quebec were recruited online by a private survey firm. They were randomly allocated (1:1 ratio) to either an experimental group, which completed a web-based SDM training program that included prenatal screening, or a control group, which completed a web-based training program focusing on prenatal screening alone. The experimental intervention consisted of a 3-hour web-based training hosted on the Université Laval platform with 4 modules: (1) SDM; (2) Down syndrome prenatal screening; (3) decision aids; and (4) communication between health care professionals and the patient. For the control group, the topic of SDM in Module 1 was replaced with “Context and history of prenatal screening,” and the topic of decision aids in Module 3 was replaced with “Consent in prenatal screening.” Participants completed a self-administered sociodemographic questionnaire with close-ended questions. We also assessed the participants' (1) intention to use a decision aid in prenatal screening clinical practice, (2) knowledge, (3) satisfaction with the training, (4) acceptability, and (5) perceived usefulness of the training. The randomization was done using a predetermined sequence and included 40 nurses. Participants and researchers were blinded. Intention to use a decision aid will be assessed by a t test. Bivariate and multivariate analysis will be performed to assess knowledge and overall impressions of the training. Results This study was funded in 2017 and approved by Genome Canada. Data were collected from September 2019 to late January 2020. This paper was initially submitted before data analysis began. Results are expected to be published in winter 2020. Conclusions Study results will inform us on the impact of an SDM training program on nurses’ intention to use and knowledge of decision aids for prenatal screening and their overall impressions of the training. Participant feedback will also inform an upgrade of the program, if needed. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04162288; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04162288 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/17878

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Background Nurses play an important role in supporting pregnant women making decisions about prenatal screening for Down syndrome. We developed a web-based shared decision-making (SDM) training program for health professionals focusing on Down syndrome screening decisions. Objective In this study, we aim to assess the impact of an SDM training program on nurses’ intention to use a decision aid with pregnant women deciding on prenatal screening for Down syndrome. Methods In this 2-arm, parallel controlled trial, French-speaking nurses working with pregnant women in the province of Quebec were recruited by a private survey firm. They were allocated by convenience either to the intervention group (web-based SDM course that included prenatal screening) or to the control group (web-based course focusing on prenatal screening alone, with no SDM content). The primary outcome was the intention to use a decision aid. Secondary outcomes were psychosocial variables of intention, knowledge, satisfaction, acceptability, perceived usefulness, and reaction to the pedagogical approach. All outcomes were self-assessed through web-based questionnaires, including the space for written comments. We used 2-tailed Student t test and Fisher exact test to compare continuous and categorical variables between groups, respectively. Results Of the 57 participants assessed for eligibility, 40 (70%) were allocated to the intervention (n=20) or control group (n=20) and 36 (n=18 in each) completed the courses. The mean age of the participants was 41 (SD 9) years. Most were women (39/40, 98%), White (38/40, 95%), clinical nurses (28/40, 70%), and had completed at least a bachelor’s degree (30/40, 75%). After the intervention, the mean score of intention was 6.3 (SD 0.8; 95% CI 5.9-6.7) for the intervention group and 6.0 (SD 1.2; 95% CI 5.42-6.64) for the control group (scale 1-7). The differences in intention and other psychosocial variable scores between the groups were not statistically significant. Knowledge scores for SDM were significantly higher in the intervention group (79%, 95% CI 70-89 vs 64%, 95% CI 57-71; P=.009). The intervention was significantly more acceptable in the intervention group (4.6, 95% CI 4.4-4.8 vs 4.3, 95% CI 4.1-4.5; P=.02), and reaction to the pedagogical approach was also significantly more positive in the intervention group (4.7, 95% CI 4.5-4.8 vs 4.4, 95% CI 4.2-4.5; P=.02). There was no significant difference in overall satisfaction (or in perceived usefulness). Furthermore, 17 participants (9 in the intervention group and 8 in the control group) provided written comments on the intervention. Conclusions This study focuses on web-based nursing education and its potential to support pregnant women’s decision-making needs. It shows that nurses’ intention to use a decision aid to enhance SDM in prenatal care is high, with or without training, but that their knowledge about SDM can be improved with web-based training. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR2-10.2196/17878

BACKGROUND Background: Nurses provide maternity care and thus play an important role in supporting pregnant women making decisions about prenatal screening for Down syndrome. We developed a web-based shared decision making (SDM) training program for health professionals focusing on Down syndrome screening decisions. OBJECTIVE Objective: We assessed the impact of a SDM training program on nurses’ intention to use a decision aid with pregnant women deciding about prenatal screening for Down syndrome. METHODS Methods: In this 2-arm parallel controlled trial, French-speaking nurses working with pregnant women in the province of Quebec were recruited online by a private survey firm. They were conveniently allocated either to the intervention group (web-based SDM training program that included prenatal screening) or to the control group (web-based training program focusing on prenatal screening alone, with no SDM content). The primary outcome was intention to use a decision aid. Secondary outcomes were psychosocial variables of intention (e.g. social influence), as well as knowledge, satisfaction, acceptability, perceived usefulness and reaction to the pedagogical approach. All outcomes were self-assessed through online questionnaires including space for written comments. No blinding was performed. We used Student's t test and Fisher's exact test to compare continuous and categorical variables between groups. RESULTS Results: Of 57 participants assessed for eligibility, 40 were allocated to the intervention (n=20) or control group (n=20) and 36 (n=18 in each) completed the training program. Mean age of participants was 41 years (SD 9). Most were women (97.5%), Caucasian (95%), clinical nurses (70%), and had completed a baccalaureate degree (65%). Post-intervention, the mean score of intention was 6.3 (5.9; 6.7) for the intervention group and 6.0 (5.42; 6.64) for the control group. The difference in intention score and other psychosocial variables score between groups was not statistically significant. Knowledge scores about SDM were significantly different (79% in the intervention group, 64% in the control group, p=0.009). There was no significant difference in overall satisfaction [4.4 (SD 0.7) in the intervention group and 4.5 (SD 0.9)] in the control group and perceived usefulness [4.6 (SD 0.4) in the intervention group and 4.4 (SD 0.5)] in the control group. Acceptability of the training program showed a statistically significant difference [4.6 (SD 0.4) in the intervention group and 4.3 (SD 0.4) in the control group; p=0.02] as well as reaction to the pedagogical approach [4.7 (SD 0.4) in the intervention group and 4.4 (SD 0.4) in the control group; p=0.02]. Seventeen participants also gave written comments on the training. CONCLUSIONS Conclusions: Nurses’ intention to use SDM in prenatal care is already high, with training or without, but their knowledge about SDM could be improved with SDM training. Our results will inform future strategies to implement shared decision-making among nurses. CLINICALTRIAL Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04162288; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04162288?term=NCT04162288&draw=2&rank=1

BACKGROUND Pregnant women often find it difficult to choose from among the wide variety of available prenatal screening options. To help pregnant women and their partners make informed decisions based on their values, needs, and preferences, a decision aid and a web-based shared decision making (SDM) training program for health professionals have been developed. In Canada, nurses provide maternity care and thus can train as decision coaches for prenatal screening. However, there is a knowledge gap about the effectiveness of SDM interventions in maternity care in nursing practice. OBJECTIVE This study aims to assess the impact of an SDM training program on nurses’ intentions to use a decision aid for prenatal screening and on their knowledge and to assess their overall impressions of the training. METHODS This is a 2-arm parallel randomized trial. French-speaking nurses working with pregnant women in the province of Quebec were recruited online by a private survey firm. They were randomly allocated (1:1 ratio) to either an experimental group, which completed a web-based SDM training program that included prenatal screening, or a control group, which completed a web-based training program focusing on prenatal screening alone. The experimental intervention consisted of a 3-hour web-based training hosted on the Université Laval platform with 4 modules: (1) SDM; (2) Down syndrome prenatal screening; (3) decision aids; and (4) communication between health care professionals and the patient. For the control group, the topic of SDM in Module 1 was replaced with “Context and history of prenatal screening,” and the topic of decision aids in Module 3 was replaced with “Consent in prenatal screening.” Participants completed a self-administered sociodemographic questionnaire with close-ended questions. We also assessed the participants' (1) intention to use a decision aid in prenatal screening clinical practice, (2) knowledge, (3) satisfaction with the training, (4) acceptability, and (5) perceived usefulness of the training. The randomization was done using a predetermined sequence and included 40 nurses. Participants and researchers were blinded. Intention to use a decision aid will be assessed by a t test. Bivariate and multivariate analysis will be performed to assess knowledge and overall impressions of the training. RESULTS This study was funded in 2017 and approved by Genome Canada. Data were collected from September 2019 to late January 2020. This paper was initially submitted before data analysis began. Results are expected to be published in winter 2020. CONCLUSIONS Study results will inform us on the impact of an SDM training program on nurses’ intention to use and knowledge of decision aids for prenatal screening and their overall impressions of the training. Participant feedback will also inform an upgrade of the program, if needed. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04162288; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04162288 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/17878