[Good preconditions for a cooperation between physicians and psychosocial professionals in prenatal diagnostic counselling--empirical results referring to the initial situation of a model project]. / Gute Voraussetzung für eine Zusammenarbeit zwischen Arzten und psychosozialen Fachkräften in der Beratung zur Pränataldiagnostik.

In a model project, the cooperation between physicians and psychosocial professionals is supported in order to improve the quality of counselling in prenatal diagnostics (PND). For this purpose, interprofessional quality circles (IQZ) had been established in six different places in Germany and were accompanied scientifically. By means of a questionnaire, data on self-perception and the perception of the respective other group, the cooperation practice and various attitudes in the context of PND had been collected. Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants and structural features of counselling had been described, characteristics of attitudes towards PND and of the therapeutic relationship had been examined by means of MANOVA or non-parametrically on the item level. The results show that notwithstanding a high willingness a cooperation between physicians and psychosocial professionals rarely takes place. Although the counselling offers of the two professional groups would complement each other, differences in the attitudes towards PND, most of all considering the relevance of medical pre-findings performing an invasive PND, depend on the gender of the professional. It is recommended to include these results into the future IQZs, and to stimulate the participants to consider the complementary attitude of the other professional/gender group in the interest of a common counselling concept.

[Councelling regarding prenatal diagnostic: a model project to enhance cooperation between medical and psychosocial consultants]. / Beratung zu Pränataldiagnostik: Ein Modellprojekt zur Verbesserung der Kooperation zwischen Arztinnen bzw. Arzten und psychosozialen Beraterinnen.

Although according to section 2 of the Pregnancy Conflicts Law, there is a legal claim to psychosocial counselling and although its benefit has been proven empirically, pregnant women rarely draw upon it in the context of prenatal diagnostics (PND). One of the reasons is probably that physicians are not sufficiently aware of this counselling offer. By means of the model project "Interprofessional quality circles in prenatal diagnostics" an attempt was made to counteract this deficit. For this purpose, interprofessional quality circles have been established in six different places in Germany in order to motivate medical and psychosocial consultants to an increased cooperation. The effects and realization of the quality circle efforts have been evaluated. For this purpose, structural characteristics such as cooperation practice and utilization of psychosocial counselling have been assessed using a questionnaire before and after the introduction of the quality circles. All sessions have been documented; in addition, they have been evaluated by the participants using another shorter questionnaire. The results show that the quality circles led to an improved cooperation between the different professional groups and an increased utilization of psychosocial counselling. The work of the quality circles has been evaluated positively. It was regarded as conductive to cooperation, emotionally exonerative and extremely helpful with respect to the daily counselling work. Most of all, its practicality and case management were appraised. Thus, interprofessional quality circles prove to be an adequate instrument to advance the interprofessional and aim-oriented cooperation in such a way as demanded emphatically by the German Expert Advisory Board of Community Health in its recent experts report.

Love: an important dimension in marital research and therapy.

How do men and women describe and assess their relationship? What themes are decisive for its quality and stability? To answer such questions, we investigated a random sample of 204 married couples (reference sample), and 31 married couples undergoing psychotherapy (clinical sample) using a newly developed questionnaire. The participating couples were asked to evaluate a total of 19 themes with respect to their importance for the couple's connectedness. Although only rarely directly addressed in couple therapy and investigated in couple research, the theme "Love" proved to be the decisive factor for quality and stability. The results of the present study, therefore, indicate that "Love" should be investigated more thoroughly in couple research and included more actively in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.