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Identifying and Addressing Genetic Counseling Challenges among Indigenous People of Oaxaca—One Center's Experience with Two Immigrant Farmworker Families in the Central Valley of California
Author(s) -
Shen Joseph J.,
Carmichael Jason,
Vásquez Santos Leoncio
Publication year - 2018
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/s10897-018-0221-0
Subject(s) - genetic counseling , indigenous , immigration , public health , population , human genetics , medicine , acknowledgement , family medicine , geography , environmental health , genetics , nursing , ecology , biology , archaeology , computer security , gene , computer science
An important aspect of genetic counseling is the recognition of and adaptation to the socio‐cultural uniqueness of the different populations that a genetics clinic serves. The Central Valley of California is home to a large population from Mexico, with a significant proportion of indigenous ancestry originating from the state of Oaxaca. We report on our experience with two families of this community—one extended family with an early lethal inborn error of metabolism and the other with a chronic disfiguring form of ichthyosis. We identified multiple important factors that needed to be considered, including the matching of language dialects, adaptation to different social interaction conventions, acknowledgement of traditional medicine beliefs, and effective transmission of genetic terms and concepts, all of which should be incorporated into the interactions with these families when aiming to provide comprehensive genetic counseling.