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Evaluating empowerment in genetic counseling using patient‐reported outcomes
Author(s) -
Yuen Jeanette,
Lee Suat Y.,
Courtney Eliza,
Lim John,
Soh Hazel,
Li Shao T.,
Chen Yanni,
McAllister Marion,
Fenwick Eva K.,
Ngeow Joanne
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
clinical genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.543
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1399-0004
pISSN - 0009-9163
DOI - 10.1111/cge.13646
Subject(s) - genetic counseling , rasch model , empowerment , medicine , clinical psychology , genetic testing , psychology , developmental psychology , genetics , political science , law , biology
Data about patient reported outcomes from cancer genetics services (CGS) are lacking but are essential to guide service evaluation and improvements. We measured improvement in empowerment, following genetic counseling in Singapore using a culturally‐adapted version of the Genetic Counseling Outcome Scale (GCOS‐24); and sought to identify factors associated with change in empowerment. The GCOS‐24 was administered to 155 patients of the CGS, at pre‐ and post‐counseling or testing timepoints. Of which, 110 patients underwent genetic testing. Individual pre‐ and post‐counseling responses were subjected to Rasch analysis; the scale was subsequently split into cognitive control (CC) and emotional control (EC) domains. Associations of baseline characteristics with changes in pre‐ and post‐CC and EC scores were assessed using multiple regression analysis. Both CC and EC scores showed significant improvement following genetic counseling and testing. While all items in the CC domain of being showed increases at follow‐up, aspects of EC related to alleviating negative emotions ( P = .88) and hopelessness ( P = .2) did not show significant improvement. Our study revealed significant improvement in empowerment in patients who have received cancer genetic counseling, while revealing a need to cultivate hope and facilitate the alleviation of negative emotions in patients during genetic counseling.