Appreciating small-group active learning: What do medical students want, and why? A Q-methodology study.

Introduction: For Small-Group Active Learning (SMAL) to be effective, students need to engage meaningfully in learning activities to construct their knowledge. Teachers can have difficulty engaging their students in this process. To improve engagement, we aimed to identify the diversity in medical students' appreciation of SMAL, using the concepts of epistemic beliefs and approaches to learning.

Bridging the gap between CBME in theory and practice: the role of a teacher community.

The success of curricular reforms is dependent on the teachers who put the reforms into practice. In medical education, clinicians as teachers are important in this endeavour and the educational organization can learn from their efforts. The 'Vygotsky space' construct may help to analyze the learning process between teachers and organization.

Attitudes of pregnant women and male partners towards non-invasive prenatal testing and widening the scope of prenatal screening.

Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) and its potential to test for multiple disorders has received much attention. This study explores attitudes of women and men towards NIPT, and their views on widening the scope of prenatal testing in a country with a low uptake of prenatal screening (The Netherlands). Five focus groups with low-risk pregnant women (n=28), three focus groups with men (n=19) and 13 interviews with high- and low-risk pregnant women were conducted.

How we designed and implemented teaching, training, and assessment of professional behaviour at VUmc School of Medical Sciences Amsterdam.

Background: Training of doctors in The Netherlands seeks to develop clinical competences including professional behaviour. Behaving as a professional is not just a desirable trait but a clearly stated requirement for doctors and medical students.

Results: We designed an educational theme, Professional Behaviour (PB), as a longitudinal thread throughout our six-year curriculum after defining PB as "The observable aspects of practising professionalism".

Does offering prenatal screening influence pregnant women's attitudes regarding prenatal testing?

Objectives: This study aims to find out whether offering prenatal screening for Down syndrome and neural tube defects influences pregnant women's attitudes toward having a screening test.

Methods: Women were randomised into a group that was offered prenatal screening and a group that was not offered screening (controls). Both groups completed questionnaires before screening was offered, after the offer (not the control group), and in the last trimester of pregnancy.

Does offering and performing prenatal screening influence women's attachment to their unborn child? A longitudinal randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The question addressed was: Does offering prenatal screening and receiving a negative screening outcome influence women's attachment to their unborn child?

Methods: Women were offered a nuchal translucency measurement, maternal serum screening, or no screening at all in a randomized controlled trial. Attachment was measured by a self-developed questionnaire at four points in time: before screening was offered, after the offer, after receiving the negative screening result (or at comparable points in time) and in the last trimester of pregnancy. In the last trimester, the Prenatal Attachment Inventory was also filled in.

Are counsellors' attitudes influencing pregnant women's attitudes and decisions on prenatal screening?

Objectives: It is generally recognised that choices concerning treatment or screening should be people's own, autonomous decisions. However, in the context of genetic counselling, many studies found that counsellors deviate from nondirectiveness, or that subjective norm influences behaviour. The present study aimed to investigate whether prenatal counsellors (midwives, gynaecologists) influence pregnant women's decisions and their attitudes regarding prenatal screening.

Does prenatal screening influence anxiety levels of pregnant women? A longitudinal randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: Questions addressed are: (1) Does offering prenatal screening increase anxiety? (2) Does receiving a negative screening result make women less anxious and does a positive screening result make women more anxious? (3) What are the long-term consequences on anxiety of offering screening and receiving a screening result?

Methods: Women were offered prenatal screening or no screening in a randomised controlled trial. State anxiety (STAI) and child-related anxiety (PRAQ-R) were measured. Questionnaires were filled in before prenatal screening was offered (T1), after the offer (T2), after the test result (T3), and in the third trimester of pregnancy (T4).

[Quality of nuchal transluccency measurements: an exploratory study into their performance and evaluation].

Objective: To investigate the quality of nuchal translucency measurements that were done as part of a randomised study into screening for Down's syndrome.

Design: Exploratory.

Method: In the period May 2001-April 2003, 396 nuchal translucency measurements were done by 55 sonographers in 13 different echography centres.

Accepting or declining the offer of prenatal screening for congenital defects: test uptake and women's reasons.

Objectives: Prenatal screening for Down syndrome has become standard practice in many western countries. In the Netherlands, however, prenatal screening tests for congenital defects are not offered routinely. The present study aims to assess test uptake in a large, unselected population of pregnant women, and to give more insight into the decision for or against prenatal screening through nuchal translucency measurement or maternal serum screening.