Graduate School of Human and Socio-Environmental Studies, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
Institute of Transdisciplinary Sciences for Innovation, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 30;19(8):e0309537. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309537. eCollection 2024.
The use of prenatal testing in Japan is expected to increase. However, there are ethical concerns regarding pregnancy termination upon the detection of fetal chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down syndrome. Furthermore, factors associated with decision-making following a positive result of Down syndrome after prenatal screening remain unclear. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association between decision-making among university students following a hypothetical positive result of Down syndrome in prenatal screening and their perception of their future career development defined as vocational identity. This cross-sectional study included 256 individuals (109 men, 143 women, and four who preferred not to answer). Self-anonymous semi-structured questionnaires were distributed to collect information regarding socio-demographic characteristics, vocational identity, and decision-making following a positive prenatal screening result of Down syndrome. Vocational identity was assessed using the Vocational Identity Measure. Women students were more likely to intend to continue the pregnancy (76.9%, p < 0.05); however, students without siblings (68.2%, p < 0.01) and men and women students with higher scores for vocational identities who were raised in an academically oriented family were more likely to intend to terminate the pregnancy (p < 0.05). Therefore, gender and vocational identity were associated with decision-making following a positive result of Down syndrome. Further qualitative and quantitative studies on factors associated with decision-making following a positive result of Down syndrome are necessary to eliminate the burden and social barrier, including gender division of labor and the effect of vocational career for people wishing to parent a child with Down syndrome.
日本产前检测的使用预计将会增加。然而，在检测到胎儿染色体异常（如唐氏综合征）时终止妊娠存在伦理问题。此外，产前筛查检测出唐氏综合征阳性后，与决策相关的因素仍不清楚。因此，我们旨在评估大学生在产前筛查检测出唐氏综合征阳性后的决策与其未来职业发展的感知（即职业认同）之间的关联。这项横断面研究共纳入了 256 名参与者（109 名男性、143 名女性和 4 名未回答的人）。我们分发了匿名的半结构化自我调查问卷，以收集社会人口统计学特征、职业认同和唐氏综合征产前筛查阳性结果后的决策信息。职业认同采用职业认同量表进行评估。女学生更倾向于继续妊娠（76.9%，p<0.05）；然而，没有兄弟姐妹的学生（68.2%，p<0.01）以及来自重视学业家庭、职业认同得分较高的男女学生更倾向于终止妊娠（p<0.05）。因此，性别和职业认同与唐氏综合征阳性结果后的决策相关。需要进行更多关于唐氏综合征阳性结果后决策相关因素的定性和定量研究，以消除性别分工和职业生涯对希望生育唐氏综合征患儿的人的负担和社会障碍。
