Outcomes of Decision-Making Intervention For Women with Familial Genetic Predisposition To Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Abstract

Identification of a genetic basis underlying certain types of cancer has led to an increase in demand for ge¬netic counseling about individual risk of the disease. This study aimed to determine the women at risk for famil¬ial genetic predisposition to breast and/or ovarian cancer, and examine the cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes of decision-making interven¬tion among women with familial pre¬disposition to breast and/or ovarian cancer. A quasi experimental research design was utilized in this study. Two matched groups, the study and the control groups, 150 patients for each were recruited in this study conven¬iently, classified according to their risk into high, moderate, and low risk. The study group subjects were exposed to counseling session while the control was not. Family history of cancer questionnaire, risk determination ta¬ble, decision-making intervention, de¬cision aid, and outcome measuring tools were utilized in this study to measure the effect of decision-making intervention. The results revealed sta¬tistically significant difference at (p <0.05) between the study and control groups regarding cognitive outcomes, and affective outcomes, while a non statistically significant difference re¬garding behavioral outcomes was de¬tected. The study concluded that ge¬netic counseling improves knowledge of cancer genetics and accuracy of perceived risk of the disease with a mild adverse effect on general anxiety, depression, distress, and poor effect on screening behaviors. Further evalua¬tion of strategies to promote informed decision-making is still required. De¬tailed assessment of the cognitive and affective outcomes that may influence subsequent behavioral outcomes (namely, uptake of the tests is recom¬mended).