Study design (if review, criteria of inclusion for studies)
randomized controlled trial
Participants
275 women who had undergone couple testing 3 years earlier and 83 women who had undergone 2-step testing 3 years earlier (n = 263/358 for a response rate of 73%)
Interventions
subject-completed questionnaire
Outcome measures
The main outcome measure was understanding of test results.
Main results
Three years after testing women who had undergone couple testing were 4.5 times (95% confidence interval 2.4-8.4 times) more likely than those who had undergone 2-step testing to accurately recall that the test result meant that they were unlikely to be carriers for cystic fibrosis (80%, 95% confidence interval 74%-86%, versus 49%, 95% confidence interval 36%-61%). Anxiety level, plans to have more children, and age were unrelated to recall.
Authors' conclusions
The results of this study, together with those from other evaluations, suggest that not only does couple testing avoid the high levels of anxiety associated with 2-step testing but it also results in greater awareness of the residual risk inherent in a negative screening test result.
Keywords: Adult; carrier status; Family Therapy; Counseling; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genetic Testing; non pharmacological intervention - diagn; non pharmacological intervention - psyco-soc-edu-org; Pregnancy; screening; Psychoeducation; Systemic interventions; diagnostic procedures; non pharmacological intervention - genetic& reprod;