Determination of risk perception in pregnant women applying for prenatal screening tests

This study was conducted as a descriptive study to determine the risk perception in pregnant women applying for prenatal screening tests. The research was conducted with 200 pregnant women who applied to İnegöl State Hospital Gynecology and Obstetrics outpatient clinic between April 4, 2022 and December 30, 2022 and were asked for prenatal screening tests by the physician. Data were collected using the "Personal Information Form" and "Risk Perception Scale in Pregnancy". Frequency analysis (number, percentage, mean, median, interquartile range), Mann Whitney U test and Kruskall Wallis H test were used to analyze the data. In this study, it was determined that 66% of pregnant women were 29 years old and under, 98% of them were 29 years old and under, and 83.5% were not married to consanguineous people. It was found that 32.5% of the pregnant women had two pregnancies and 66% of them had a planned pregnancy, the average week of pregnancy was 25.06 ± 8.58 and 51% were in the second trimester. It was found that 39.2% of pregnant women had heard of the triple test, 91.5% had information about prenatal screening tests and 59.9% received this information from doctors. In this study, it was determined that 52.6% of pregnant women had prenatal screening tests in previous pregnancies, 40.3% had prenatal screening tests because their doctor recommended them, and 40.4% did not have prenatal screening tests in their previous pregnancies because they did not need it. The total score median of the pregnant women's risk perception scale during pregnancy was found to be 2.00 (IQR = 1.78). It was determined that the median risk perception subscale score of pregnant women whose current pregnancy was planned was statistically significantly higher than that of those whose current pregnancy was not planned (p<0.05). It is recommended that healthcare professionals serving in the field of women's health evaluate the risks and risk perception levels of pregnant women regarding prenatal screening testing, starting from the antenatal period, in order to increase the quality of life of pregnant women. Key Words: Pregnancy, Prenatal diagnosis, Prenatal screening, Risk perception, Risk perception in pregnant women, Nursing.