JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

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:

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:

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:

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:

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. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04162288; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04162288?term=NCT04162288&draw=2&rank=1