Objective: The primary aim of the study was to assess mothers’ perception of the consistency of information retained from antenatal consultations relative to their experience of their neonate’s hospitalization. Secondary aims included evaluating the quality of information delivered on foetal status, management and prognosis, and identifying factors associated with perceived inconsistencies between retained information and experience. Methods: This questionnaire-based study involved the mothers of neonates treated in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit (Hôpital Femme-Mère-Enfant, Lyon, France). Mothers were included if they had attended a prenatal diagnosis consultation and gave birth between January 2020 and December 2022 to a newborn admitted to the NICU. The main dependent variable was the perceived consistency of information provided during prenatal consultations compared with mothers’ experiences of hospitalization. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed, quantitative variables summarised as medians and qualitative variables as counts and percentages. Results: Of 106 eligible mothers, 64(60%) responded to the questionnaire. Among the latter, 68%(43/63) reported that the information received during antenatal consultations was mostly or fully consistent with their experience of their neonate’s hospitalization. Among the 20 mothers who reported disparities (32%), 7(35%) reported inconsistencies with information provided by other specialists and 5(25%) reported not receiving information on their newborn’s condition or prognosis. Conclusion: This study highlights the need to improve the consistency and clarity of information provided during antenatal consultations, particularly in a multidisciplinary context, and to better convey prognostic uncertainties. Further studies are required on the impact of these interventions on maternal experiences, preferably with a prospective design to limit recall bias.
Babinet et al. (2026) studied this question.