Background: Prenatal testing is voluntary and should be offered to all pregnant women in combination with sufficient information. Earlier studies have shown that pregnant women often felt the information given at the antenatal clinics about foetal diagnostics was lacking. Since new methods in foetal diagnostics are introduced into routine health care, there is an increased need for adequate information. The aim of this study was to examine how pregnant women and their partners perceive the information given at the antenatal clinic regarding foetal diagnostics, as well as to increase the understanding of how this information can be improved.Methods: A qualitative interview study was conducted in the Gothenburg area in Sweden. Ten women and seven partners expecting their first child were interviewed. The data was analysed using content analysis with an inductive approach.Results: The interview data generated three main categories and ten subcategories. The first category, ‘Diversity in the information perceived,’ concerned differences in the level of information perceived regarding voluntariness, the methods’ purpose and the possibility of abnormal findings. The second category, ‘Varying needs related to improved information,’ concerned the parents’ needs related to thorough information and pre-existing knowledge. The third category, ‘The midwife has a great impact on the information perceived,’ concerned sufficient and insufficient susceptibility and time to ask questions as well as varying experiences of the midwife’s attitude. Conclusions: Although previous research have already pointed out that information regarding foetal diagnostics is lacking, this study shows that there is still room for improvement. This is even more urgent now with new methods being introduced, which can make choices concerning foetal diagnostics even more complicated for the pregnant woman. The given information should be explicit concerning purpose, limitations and the voluntariness of prenatal testing. Sufficient time for questions and discussion was important to many who were interviewed. The diversity in answers among the participants in the study highlights the importance of considering the level of the parents’ pre-existing knowledge and their individual thoughts and questions and that it is important to adapt the information to the individual woman and partner.
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