Communication skills of residents to families with Down syndrome babies

Abstract

Background. Generally, pediatricians are the first health caregivers to deliver initial diagnosis of Down syndrome (DS) to the families. However, most of the parents are not satisfied with the contents and how they receive information when their child is born with DS. Pediatric residents should target educational interventions to help parents to overcome with these issues and to provide accurate information. The objective is to assess comfort levels and training requirements of pediatric residents to communicate with parents of babies born with Down syndrome. Methods. Diagnostic Situations Inventory (DSI) is a rating scale which included ten questions to assess discomfort level. A survey was sent via mobile, websites and all the social media which were available to all pediatrics residents in the country. Socio-demographic factors including information about training requirement were collected as well. Results. From the 326 participants, total mean discomfort level was 30.22 in DSI out of 50 which was the highest score. Discomfort level was significantly increased in female participants (p= 0.033). Being female (p= 0.014), having less residency level (p= 0.028), examining less number of patients with Down syndrome (p= 0.025) and having higher discomfort levels (p= 0.001) were found to be related with increased training requirement. From the residents, 84% declared the need for additional training. Conclusions. This study showed that pediatric residents had a high level of discomfort when communicating with parentes of newborn with Down Syndrome. Female residentes had a discomfort level significantly higher than male residentes.