Patient Perceptions of Telephone vs. In-Person BRCA1/BRCA2 Genetic Counseling

 Blogger's Note: see abstract for associated stats

abstract

 Telephone genetic counseling (TC) for hereditary breast/ovarian cancer risk has been associated with positive outcomes in high risk women. However, little is known about how patients perceive TC. As part of a randomized trial of TC versus usual care (UC; in-person genetic counseling), we compared high risk women's perceptions of: (1) overall satisfaction with genetic counseling; (2) convenience; (3) attentiveness during the session; (4) counselor effectiveness in providing support; and (5) counselor ability to recognize emotional responses during the session. Among the 554 participants  delivery mode was not associated with self-reported satisfaction. However, TC participants found counseling significantly more convenient than UC participants  while also perceiving lower levels of support ) and emotional recognition ). In exploratory analyses, we found that non-Hispanic white participants reported higher counselor support in UC than in TC , while minority women perceived less support in UC vs. TC . We discuss potential research and practice implications of these findings which may further improve the effectiveness and utilization of TC.