Reply to ‘Multiple births: does the news media influence public perceptions?’
Oxford Fertility Unit, Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
* Email: tim.child{at}obs-gyn.ox.ac.uk
Sir,
I must thank Dr Letterie for his interest in our paper and his erudite response. I would concur with his opinion that the entertainment and news media do indeed influence public perceptions on the risks and desirability of multiple gestation. In our study, we found that desire for multiple gestation was significantly reduced in patients having awareness of the increased risks of multiples (Child et al. 2004
). Furthermore, previous assisted reproductive treatment (ART) and, by implication, exposure to counselling, was the sole variable associated with awareness of the increased risks of multiple pregnancy. Patient education may therefore play an important role in assisting physicians in the quest to reduce the contribution of ART to multiple births and their attending complications.
Letterie points out that some of the power of the media lies in its appealing, accessible and understandable format. Perhaps we, as physicians, should learn from this and develop counselling and teaching aids along these lines. High quality videos could be produced, by the national fertility societies if necessary, and distributed to patients or viewed on-line through the clinic website. It is likely that more information on outcomes of ART, good and bad, would be imparted by this approach than is possible during a busy clinic consultation when the main focus may lie with aspects of investigation and treatment. It would be of interest to perform a trial in which couples were randomized to receive either standard or ‘media-savvy’ counselling followed-up later by a questionnaire study examining their desire for multiple birth.
References
Child TJ, Henderson AM and Tan SL (2004) The desire for multiple pregnancy in male and female infertility patients. Hum Reprod 19, 558–561.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||