Application of the triage assessment system for psychological assessment for pregnant women with a deadly fetal abnormality.

To explore suitable scales to assess psychological status of pregnant women whose fetuses have grave deformities, a face-to-face interview guided by the Triage Assessment System (TAS) was conducted. Also, a questionnaire of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) was obtained in 44 pregnant women diagnosed with a fetal deformity. Percentages and non-parametric Spearman correlations were used to analyse the scores of the two scales. The total score of TAS ranged from 3 to 26, with a mean of 9.93; and the total score of IES-R ranged from 5 to 63, with a mean of 40.36. The total score and the two subscales of each scale were significantly correlated (P < 0.05). The TAS subscale of emotion and IES-R subscale of intrusion were not significantly correlated, with r = 0.24 (P = 0.11). Combined use of TAS and IES-R can make up for each other's deficiencies and guide the clinician to make individual interventions during screening and treatment.