Prenatal ultrasound screening: False positive soft markers may alter maternal representations and mother-infant interaction

Abstract

Background: In up to 5% of pregnancies, ultrasound screening detects a ''soft marker'' (SM) that places the foetus at risk for a severe abnormality. In most cases, prenatal diagnostic work-up rules out a severe defect. We aimed to study the effects of false positive SM on maternal emotional status, maternal representations of the infant, and mother-infant interaction.

Ultrasonographic fetal soft markers in a low‐risk population: prevalence, association with trisomies and invasive tests

“…Information is also important because despite results from an invasive test ruling out chromosomal aberrations after the detection of soft markers, women's concerns about the baby's health are common and can be persistent . Lingering feelings of uncertainty about the significance of the marker detected , and increased maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms have been observed up to 2 months postpartum . Professionals also need to consider the partner's role in this situation, given women's desire to have a joint responsibility in making decisions about fetal diagnostics, including the partners' specific supportive role in such stressful situations .…”

Quality of life and anxiety in Turkish patients with anorectal malformation

“…A baby with a major illness or a specific problem causes parents to lose their image of an ideal baby and begin to mourn . Viaux‐Savelon and colleagues showed that false‐positive ultrasound soft markers increase the anxiety level of mothers and alter maternal representations and mother–infant interactions in a negative way . Consequently, it could be thought that ARM increases anxiety because of disturbances in maternal representations as well as physical difficulties.…”

Interpersonal Synchrony: From Social Perception to Social Interaction

“…In these experiments, they demonstrated expectancies for synchronized and contingent exchanges with the social partner (here the mother), since two months old. The key role of synchrony was also found at early age in more natural early interaction such as home breast feeding (Viaux-Savelon et al, 2012). In (Saint-Georges et al, 2011), we investigated early signs of autism by modeling child's development with an interpersonal synchrony point of view.…”