Maternal Anxiety and Empowerment in Pregnancies Complicated By Fetal Surgical Anomalies: A Mixed Methods Study

Fetal surgical anomalies cause significant anxiety. Following the diagnosis, prenatal counseling with shared decision-making occurs. Empowerment is an essential component of shared decision-making. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to evaluate the association between patient empowerment with depression and anxiety among patients with fetal surgical anomalies.

An explanatory mixed-methods study was conducted at a large tertiary fetal center among patients with recently diagnosed surgical fetal anomalies from May, 2021 to May, 2022. Validated cross-sectional surveys were used to collect quantitative data regarding patient empowerment, depression, and anxiety. Univariate analysis was used to compare the association of maternal empowerment with depression and anxiety. Qualitative data was obtained from semistructured interviews to explore maternal anxiety and depression relative to the fetal diagnosis. Thematic analysis was performed to identify themes.

Seventy-four patients were recruited for the quantitative study. Pregnancy-related empowerment score and patient empowerment score were significantly lower for expectant mothers with high anxiety (P < 0.01). Eighteen patients participated in qualitative interviews. Participants expressed significant anxiety related to their fetal diagnosis. Exacerbating stressors included social determinants, personal history of miscarriage, and changing family dynamics.

Our results suggest there is an association between increased depression and anxiety with lower empowerment. These findings have important implications for prenatal counseling, as targeted interventions to improve psychosocial support to treat depression and anxiety might also improve empowerment.