The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends prenatal care providers offer all women prenatal genetic screening (henceforth prenatal screening) in the first trimester of pregnancy, regardless of age or risk status. This has moved the focus of prenatal screening from a subset of higher risk couples to all pregnant couples. Classically, information about prenatal screening has been provided to patients by written materials and discussions with providers during clinic visits. This approach has a number of weaknesses, including limited time, biases presented by provider perceptions of risk level, and limited clinician genetic knowledge. These factors may also contribute to disparities in screening uptake among under-represented populations during pregnancy. The most effective approach to education about prenatal screening is genetic counseling, but due to the limited number of counselors this is not feasible, especially in rural and frontier areas.
New innovative education games offer promise to more effectively address healthcare decision-making by educating patients before or outside of genetic counseling or clinic interaction. Providing engaging game-based education may result in a less labor-intensive method of genetic counseling and promote a more quality professional dialogue with clinicians. It is important to note that decision-making about prenatal screening is a complex medical issue; the term "game" refers to "serious game design" driven by theory. Game technology can display complex information in a culturally and linguistically appropriate format to individuals of diverse educational backgrounds that make them ideal for prenatal screening education especially among under-representative and rural populations. In fact, games have already been successfully applied to diabetes management, medication education and obesity.
The research team completed an R21 that developed and formally evaluated a novel prenatal screening education game, titled the "Meaning of Screening", in the clinical setting. Participants (n=73) were randomized to either the gaming intervention or usual care group. Outcomes demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge (p=.004) and high user satisfaction in the intervention group. The research team is now poised to evaluate this intervention among a wide range of health literacy levels in a national sample of pregnant couples from both rural and urban areas. The central hypothesis is that a game education tool for pre-test education will be equivalent to one-on-one genetic counseling and significantly better than enhanced usual care on knowledge, decisional conflict and shared decision-making.
Aim 1: To compare the effectiveness of a prenatal screening education game to improve knowledge and reduce decisional conflict among pregnant people with a diverse range of health literacy levels.
Methods: Working with three sites across the US, the research team will recruit 1125 pregnant people during their first trimester of pregnancy (40% from underrepresented groups and 40% from rural/frontier areas). Prior to the first or second obstetric appointment, participants will be randomized to a) game education only, b) enhanced usual care (an interactive pdf of the clinic's brochure) or c) one-on-one genetic counseling (in-person or tele-health). Immediately after their appointment and again at 20 weeks gestation they will complete surveys to measure knowledge, satisfaction, and decisional conflict. The research team will also test the impact on several exploratory measures (e.g. satisfaction, non-directiveness, clarity).
Aim 2: To assess the effectiveness of the prenatal screening education game to promote shared decision making with providers compared to enhanced usual care (an interactive pdf of the clinic's brochure) or one-on-one genetic counseling (in-person or tele-health).
Methods: Pregnant people will independently complete surveys about shared decision making with their provider. Interviews with pregnant people and clinicians will also be conducted to identify how the game impacted information needs, preferences and shared decision-making.
Aim 3: To compare the effectiveness of a prenatal screening education game to improve knowledge and reduce decisional conflict among partners of pregnant people.
Methods: Partners will be recruited and assigned to the same study group as their pregnant partner and will engage with the game, enhanced usual care or one-on-one genetic counseling (with their pregnant partner). Partners will independently complete surveys to measure knowledge, decisional conflict, and perceptions of shared decision making with the provider.
