The value of written summaries of genetic consultations

Hallowell, Nina; Murton, F

doi:10.1016/s0738-3991(98)00080-9

Cited by 56 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Perhaps, women in the current study became overloaded with information. The findings that providing a written summary after the consultation (a technique to simplify and summarise information) lessened anxiety and, importantly, increased their accuracy of risk perception after the session, supports previous research that found written summaries of genetic consultations to be beneficial (Hallowell and Murton, 1998). Importantly, the facilitation of understanding was associated with reduced depression at follow-up, suggesting that women struggle with the large amount of information provided and can feel worse if they are not helped to understand it.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Communication and information-giving in high-risk breast cancer consultations: influence on patient outcomes

et al. 2004

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This longitudinal study aimed to document (i) the information-giving and patient-communication styles of clinical geneticists and genetic counsellors (consultants) in familial breast cancer clinics and (ii) assess the effect of these styles on women's knowledge, whether their expectations were met, satisfaction, risk perception and psychological status. A total of 158 women from high-risk breast cancer families completed self-report questionnaires at 2 weeks preconsultation and 4 weeks postconsultation. The consultations were audiotaped, transcribed and coded. Multivariate logistic regressions showed that discussing prophylactic mastectomy (P ¼ 0.00) and oophorectomy (P ¼ 0.01) led to women having significantly more expectations met; discussing genetic testing significantly decreased anxiety (P ¼ 0.03) and facilitating understanding significantly decreased depression (P ¼ 0.05). Receiving a summary letter of the consultation significantly lowered anxiety (P ¼ 0.01) and significantly increased the accuracy of perceived risk (P ¼ 0.02). Women whose consultant used more supportive communications experienced significantly more anxiety about breast cancer at the 4 weeks follow-up (P ¼ 0.00). These women were not significantly more anxious before genetic counselling. In conclusion, this study found that consultants vary in the amount of information they give and the way they communicate; and this variation can result in better or worse psychosocial outcomes. Greater use of supportive and counselling communications appeared to increase anxiety about breast cancer. Identifying methods to assist consultants to address emotional issues effectively may be helpful. Outcome studies in genetic counselling have largely relied on women's subjective assessment of the content and process of counselling, with few including an objective measure of what actually happened during the consultation. Furthermore, outcomes are often restricted to measures of satisfaction and understanding of risk. Such studies create a rather simplistic view of the goals of genetic counselling (Emery et al, 1972;Kessler, 1981). Furthermore, many of these studies did not evaluate the role of patient's sociodemographic factors (Evers Kiebooms and Van den Berghe, 1979;Marteau and Richards, 1996). The samples comprised women being counselled for a wide array of conditions, including chromosomal, autosomal recessive and a small proportion of autosomal dominant conditions, did not adequately control for or measure counsellor variability and used ad hoc measures of patient's input and outcome variables (Michie, 1993).The current study describes the process of genetic counselling for women from familial breast cancer families as shown by the analysis of audiotapes of counselling consultations. It examines the effect of different consultant communication styles on a variety of outcomes.It was hypothesised that the more the consultant facilitated communication and the more information was provided, the better would be patient outcomes; (a) higher knowledge; (b) mor...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Communication and information-giving in high-risk breast cancer consultations: influence on patient outcomes

et al. 2004

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“…21 Written summaries of genetic counselling sessions have been found to be useful as a "memory aide", but also in assisting in the dissemination of information among family members. 22 Similarly, audiotapes of consultations could be useful. However, while few women listened to their audiotape, even fewer shared it with family members.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of audiotapes in consultations with women from high risk breast cancer families: a randomised trial

Lobb¹,

Butow²,

Meiser³

et al. 2002

Journal of Medical Genetics

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“…Written materials can be useful in summarizing, reinforcing, or supplementing points made in a clinical consultation and in improving knowledge (Fitzmaurice, 2001;Hallowell and Murton, 1998;Little et al, 1998) especially if written in a clear and jargon-free style. The effectiveness of translated materials is partly a function of the literacy of the target population (Schaafsma et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Translating Genetics Leaflets into Languages Other Than English: Lessons from an Assessment of Urdu Materials

Shaw

Ahmed

2004

Journal of Genetic Counseling

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The value of written summaries of genetic consultations

Cited by 56 publications

References 11 publications

Communication and information-giving in high-risk breast cancer consultations: influence on patient outcomes

Communication and information-giving in high-risk breast cancer consultations: influence on patient outcomes

The use of audiotapes in consultations with women from high risk breast cancer families: a randomised trial

Translating Genetics Leaflets into Languages Other Than English: Lessons from an Assessment of Urdu Materials

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