While debate has focused on whether testing of minors for late onset genetic disorders should be carried out if there is no medical benefit, less is known about the impact on young people (o25 years) who have had predictive testing often many years before the likely onset of symptoms. We looked at the experiences of young people who had had predictive testing for a range of conditions with variable ages at onset and options for screening and treatment. A consecutive series of 61 young people who had a predictive test aged 15-25 years at the Clinical Genetic Service, Manchester, for HD, HBOC (BrCa 1 or 2) or FCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy or Dilated Cardiomyopathy), were invited to participate. Thirty-six (36/61; 59%) agreed to participate (10 HD, 16 HBOC and 10 FCM) and telephone interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. None of the participants expressed regret at having the test at a young age. Participants saw the value of pretest counselling not in facilitating a decision, but rather as a source of information and support. Differences emerged among the three groups in parent/family involvement in the decision to be tested. Parents in FCM families were a strong influence in favour of testing, in HBOC the decision was autonomous but usually congruent with the views of parents, whereas in HD the decision was autonomous and sometimes went against the opinions of parents/grandparents. Participants from all three groups proposed more tailoring of predictive test counselling to the needs of young people.

The effect of having a child with a genetic disorder on the couple relationshipThere is an extensive body of literature on the impact that having a child with a disability or genetic disorder has on family functioning and couple relationships. However, the vast majority of these studies have been done in well-resourced Western world contexts with comparably few studies done in disadvantaged, resource-poor settings (van der Mark et al., 2017). There is consensus in the international literature that having a child with a disability increases levels of parental stress, as well as the risk of depression and anxi-