A follow-up study of genetic counseling in Down syndrome

To ascertain the effects of genetic counseling on the education of counselees, a questionnaire study on the acceptance of genetic knowledge was carried out among 126 parents of children with Down syndrome. Those parents from the "Down Syndrome Association" had best scores for knowledge, followed by those who had received counseling according to a designed format (programmed counseling) in this Hospital. Parental perceptions of the information needed in genetic counseling were also studied and it was found that most parents thought that the topics of education and medical care were more important than genetic information. Realization of such difference in primary concern between counselors and counselees may improve the effectiveness of genetic counseling.