Essay on Improving Understanding of Genetic Counseling for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Clients

Genetic counseling entails giving out support and advice to people who are suffering or affected by a genetic disorder so that they can come in terms with their condition. Not everyone can comprehend the information given out during the counseling sessions as the content is complex. The objective of the study was to come up with ways to improve the understanding of genetic counseling for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer clients with a visual tool. The author wants to incorporate images and illustrations to help individuals being counseled to better understand genetic counseling. The model the author is proposing is known as new genetic counseling tool (NGCT) comparing it to the conventional oral only genetic counseling (CGC).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Research has shown that 90-95% of breast cancer manifests itself isolated while 5-10% are hereditary. Meaning they can be passed within a family. At least 15% of ladies who have been detected with the breast cancer gene 1 or 2 have a female family member who has suffered the same malady (Tea et al., 2018). Genetic testing is now a routine procedure for Ovarian and breast cancer. Those people who are deemed to be at risk of getting the disease can be given guidance and counseling services. Making an informed decision is paramount and one can do that if he has digested the information well. Consequently, they can initiate treatment or a well-thought prevention program. Past studies had shown that patient with lower literacy levels was finding it hard to apprehend, As such, they never took genetic counseling with the seriousness it deserves.

A study was carried out and 207 patients were referred to Vienna general hospital. 75 of the patient accepted to take part in the research (Tea et al., 2018). They were divided into two groups. One represented those patients where conventional oral genetic counseling (CGC) was used. On the other half, NGCT was employed. After the study, the two groups were given a questionnaire to fill. The questionnaire was meant to test the patient how well they understood what they were being told during counseling. After going through the results they found that patients whom NGCT was applied on them had a better score compared to CGC.

The author has shown us after the study that NGCT the whole genetic counseling process makes sense to the patient (Tea et al., 2018). They have grasped its primary objective. Thus visual aids are critical in the passing of information from one person to the other. Despite the fact that medical terms can be hard the patients were well informed. It seemed like the visual representation stimulates their brains. A factor that might have an effect on the study is whenever one goes to the hospital he is nervous. This can affect how one answers any question posed to him. Another limitation of the tool is that it is driven by the clinician. Some clinicians could have adapted to the setting making then less effective.

Conclusion

In conclusion, information is power and critical for the decision making the process. Understanding of the information will ease and aid decision making. Consequently, when we employ NGCT compared to CGC the patients better understand the medical information presented to them. Such maladies can be screened in time and treatment started immediately thus saving lives. This tool is more so important for breast and ovarian cancer diagnosis and treatment.

References

Tea, M., Tan, Y., Staudigl, C., Eibl, B., Renz, R., & Asseryanis, E. et al. (2018). Improving comprehension of genetic counseling for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer clients with a visual tool. PLOS ONE, 13(7), e0200559. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200559