Alternative option labeling impacts decision-making in noninvasive prenatal screening

Area of Science:

• Genetics and Genomics
• Medical Ethics
• Health Psychology

Background:

• Prenatal genetic screening is intended as an informed, autonomous patient choice.
• External influences, such as option labeling, can compromise ethical decision-making in prenatal genetic screening.
• Previous research suggests labeling can affect patient perceptions and choices in medical contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of different option labeling strategies on noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS) selections.
• To assess whether option labeling influences patient satisfaction with their screening decisions.

Main Methods:

• An Internet-administered study involving 1,062 US adults recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk).
• Participants were randomly assigned to one of three label sets for NIPS options.
• Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the effect of labeling on NIPS selections.

Main Results:

• Option labeling demonstrated a statistically significant impact on the NIPS selections made by participants (p = .0288).
• The Satisfaction with Decision Scale (SWD) revealed that option labels did not affect participant satisfaction with their screening choices.

Conclusions:

• The way noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS) options are labeled significantly influences patient selection.
• Patient satisfaction with their screening decision is not affected by the labeling of NIPS options.
• Further research is needed to understand the real-world clinical impact of NIPS option labeling on patient decision-making.