Psychological responses to genetic counseling for Down's syndrome

Abstract

To assess some of the emotional aspects of why parents seek genetic counseling and to measure the effect of genetic counseling in parents of children with Down''s syndrome, pre- and post-counseling measures of anxiety, hostility, depression and self-concept were obtained from 43 parents. Pre-counseling responses were compared with those of normative controls and pre- and post-counseling scores were compared for areas of significant change. Anxiety, hostility and depression levels were significantly higher in parents seeking counseling than in normative controls (both P < 0.002). Following genetic counseling, there was a significant lowering of anxiety (P < 0.0005) and depression (P < 0.05) along with a significant increase in overall self-concept (P < 0.01). The study documents the importance of looking at factors related to emotional needs and self-image of parents in genetic counseling.