A Comparison of Telephone Genetic Counseling and In- XXXX Genetic Counseling from the Genetic Counselor's Perspective.

@entity1 @entity74 @entity3628 @entity306
UNASSIGNED: Growing demand for and limited geographic access to genetic counseling services is increasing the need for alternative @entity3628 ( @entity3628 ) like @entity74 ( @entity74 ). @entity306 has been done on genetic counselors' perspectives of the practice of @entity74 . We created an anonymous online survey to assess whether telephone genetic counselors believed the tasks identified in the ABGC (American Board of Genetic Counseling) Practice Analysis were performed similarly or differently in @entity74 compared to in @entity1 genetic counseling (IPGC). If there were differences noted, we sought to determine the nature of the differences and if additional training might be needed to address them. Eighty eight genetic counselors with experience in @entity74 completed some or all of the survey. Respondents identified differences in 13 (14.8  %) of the 88 tasks studied. The tasks identified as most different in @entity74 were: "establishing rapport through verbal and nonverbal interactions" (60.2  %; 50/83 respondents identified the task as different), "recognizing factors affecting the counseling interaction" (47.8  %; 32/67), "assessing client/family emotions, support, etc." (40.1  %; 27/66) and "educating clients about basic genetic concepts" (35.6  %; 26/73). A slight majority (53.8  %; 35/65) felt additional training was needed to communicate information without visual aids and more effectively perform psychosocial assessments. In summary, although a majority of genetic counseling tasks are performed similarly between @entity74 and IPGC, @entity74 counselors recognize that specific training in the @entity74 model may be needed to address the key differences.
