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Reproductive Genetic Counseling to Asian‐Pacific and Latin American Immigrants
Author(s) -
Mittman Ilana,
Crombleholme William R.,
Green James R.,
Golbus Mitchell S.
Publication year - 1998
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 - 10.1023/a:1022816128420
Subject(s) - genetic counseling , immigration , latin americans , medicine , psychological intervention , public health , family medicine , gerontology , nursing , political science , genetics , law , biology
Latin and Asian‐Pacific immigrants are the fastest growing new‐comer groups in the U.S. contributing to 85% of immigration totals. New immigrants experience multiple barriers to accessing genetic counseling resulting from cultural, linguistic, financial, and educational factors as well as having unique perceptions on health, illness, reproduction, and life as a whole. In addition, new immigrants lack familiarity with Western medical practices as well as genetic risk and available interventions. We provided perinatal genetic services to 2430 clients, mostly new immigrants of Latin and Asian‐Pacific descent over a period of 6 years. Counseling aides sharing the clients' cultural backgrounds were employed. A study assessing the efficacy of cross‐cultural education regarding advanced maternal age risk and amniocentesis was implemented and linked to a database containing demographic and clinical information. Practical observations relating to cultural beliefs in the two groups relevant to perinatal genetic counseling were made.