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Design and Feasibility of an Intervention to Support Cancer Genetic Counselees in Informing their At‐Risk Relatives
Author(s) -
Geus Eveline,
Eijzenga Willem,
Menko Fred H.,
Sijmons Rolf H.,
Haes Hanneke C. J. M.,
Aalfs Cora M.,
Smets Ellen M. A.
Publication year - 2016
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/s10897-016-9948-7
Subject(s) - psychosocial , intervention (counseling) , brainstorming , motivational interviewing , medicine , randomized controlled trial , psychology , clinical psychology , family medicine , nursing , psychiatry , surgery , artificial intelligence , computer science
Cancer genetic counselees receive individualized information regarding heightened risks and medical recommendations which is also relevant for their at‐risk relatives. Unfortunately, counselees often insufficiently inform these relatives. We designed an intervention aimed at improving counselees’ knowledge regarding which at‐risk relatives to inform and what information to disclose, their motivation to disclose, and their self‐efficacy. The intervention, offered by telephone by trained psychosocial workers, is based on the principles of Motivational Interviewing. Phase 1 of the intervention covers agenda setting, exploration, and evaluation, and phase 2 includes information provision, enhancing motivation and self‐efficacy, and brainstorming for solutions to disseminate information within the family. Fidelity and acceptability of the intervention were assessed using recordings of intervention sessions and by counselee self‐report. A total of 144 counselees participated. Psychosocial workers ( n = 5) delivered the intervention largely as intended. Counselees highly appreciated the content of the intervention and the psychosocial workers who delivered the intervention. In the sessions, psychosocial workers provided additional and/or corrective information, and brainstorming for solutions was performed in 70 %. These results indicate that this intervention is feasible and warrants testing in clinical practice. For this, a randomized controlled trial is currently in progress to test the intervention's efficacy.