Date of Award

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

MS in Human Genetics

First Advisor

Michelle Bina

Abstract

Genetic testing is being increasingly offered to patients that have a personal or family history of cancer. This has led to a higher demand of patients needing to meet with genetic counselors (GCs) for pre-test counseling and education, which has led to increased wait times for appointments. In order to ameliorate the long wait times patients now face, alternatives such as providing patient education through a series of online educational materials are now being offered. Patient decision aids (PtDAs) are tools created by a team of healthcare professionals that assist patients in making important decisions regarding their healthcare. For this study, we created a PtDA for patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) to assist them in choosing between a traditional pre-test genetic counseling pathway and a novel online Direct-To-Test (DTT) pathway. Eligible participants were asked to complete a baseline survey before viewing the PtDA, and then a post-survey after using the PtDA. Participants voluntarily self-reported information, such as demographics, reason for pursuing genetic testing, anxiety levels using the GAD-2 scale, and understanding of genetics using in the baseline survey. The post-survey asked participants to report which pathway they would choose, factors that influenced their decision, decisional regret using the SURE scale, satisfaction with the PtDA using a 5-item Likert scale, and evaluation of their knowledge of genetics using the KnowGene scale. The results indicated that participants were highly satisfied with the PtDA, and had little regret over their final decision. Satisfaction with the PtDA was also found to be correlated with KnowGene scores. This study can be used as a guide for a larger investigation into the use and effectiveness of PtDAs in regards to patient preference concerning genetics education.

Download

Share

COinS