Pregnancy experience and mental state of women undergoing fetoscopic
surgery due to Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome:A mixed methods study
in Chinese women
Abstract
Objective To explore the pregnancy experience and mental state of women
undergoing fetal surgery due to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.
Design A mixed methods study collecting: both quantitative and
qualitative data Setting The Affiliated Shengjing Hospital of China
Medical University Population Women undergoing fetoscopic surgery due to
Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome Main Outcome Measures Quantitative
data was collected using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised
questionnaire, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, and the Pregnancy Stress
Scale. Qualitative data was collected using a semi-structured interview
Results The emotional reaction of women undergoing fetoscopic surgery
due to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome was long-term, and the adverse
emotions did not diminished over time. After surgery, patients were
constantly worried about the health of the fetuses,and the lack of
disease information will aggravate their uncertainty and worry. Twin
transfusion syndrome may also cause a post-traumatic stress reaction in
women, but for protecting the surviving fetuses ,they utilized positive
ways to regulate negative emotions, so postoperative worry about fetuses
did not cause them much anxiety. Conclusion Gestational emotional
reaction of women undergoing TTTS fetoscopic surgery is complicated.
According to our research , optimizing the referral system and
strengthening disease information support could be a good way for
clinical staff to improve these women’s mental state during pregnancy
and avoid emotion to fluctuate violently,especially for people with
weaker fertility.