Motivational Interviewing and Compliance with Carriers Screening for Beta-Thalassemia Trait in Zahedan Premarital Counseling Center, Iran

Screening and early genetic counseling programs for beta-thalassemia (BT) are of paramount importance during the pre-pregnancy period in high-risk individuals..
The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of motivational interviewing on couples` compliance with carriers screening for BT..
The study was performed on 80 couples with suspected blood indexes for thalassemia trait (mean corpuscular volume (MCV) In the first phase, noncompliance rates were 9.86% and 26.03% for the motivational interviewing (MI) and control groups, respectively. Preventive fraction (PF) indicated a 62% reduction in noncompliance after one month. In the second phase, five months after MI, noncompliance rates were 79.17% and 94.74% in the MI and control groups, respectively (PF=0.17)..
The MI group showed better compliance with short-term BT screening program, evidenced by higher rates of referral to the PCC..