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Continuing education in genetics for Adoption workers in Wisconsin
Author(s) -
Burns Joan K.,
Reiser Catherine A.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of genetic counseling
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1573-3599
pISSN - 1059-7700
DOI - 10.1007/bf00962918
Subject(s) - genetic counseling , legislation , agency (philosophy) , medical genetics , family medicine , continuing education , continuing medical education , medical education , variety (cybernetics) , medicine , genetic testing , psychology , genetics , law , political science , sociology , biology , social science , artificial intelligence , gene , computer science
In response to 1982 legislation and 1984 changes in the Wisconsin Adoption Records Laws requiring the collection of a medical‐genetic history at the time of termination of parental rights, a continuing education program in genetics was conducted for adoption workers in 1984 and 1985. The education program provided 14 workshops in five locations throughout the state and consisted of a variety of formats and levels of training. In all, 164 participants were trained at least at the introductory level with approximately 40 of these individuals taking part in the advanced levels of training. Evaluations of the training by participants and by a sample of the agency supervisors of trainees ranked the program very highly. A review of genetic history forms completed in post‐training sessions verified the expectation that training was beneficial. Trained workers completing the medical‐genetic history forms scored somewhat higher than untrained workers and much higher than parents who completed the forms without professional guidance. Medical‐genetic history forms completed by birth fathers as part of step‐parent adoptions contained little to no useful information about the birth father's genetic background .