Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Public Health Genomics. 2023;26(1):35-44. doi: 10.1159/000530366. Epub 2023 Apr 5.
Though it is well established that genetic information does not produce behavior changes, there are limited data regarding whether genetic counseling can facilitate changes in lifestyle and health behaviors that can result in improved health outcomes.
To explore this issue, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 8 patients who had lived experience of psychiatric illness and who had received psychiatric genetic counseling (PGC). Using interpretive description, we used a constant comparative approach to data analysis.
Participants talked about how, prior to PGC, they held misconceptions and/or uncertainties about the causes of and protective behaviors associated with mental illness, which caused feelings of guilt, shame, fear, and hopelessness. Participants reported that PGC reframed things in a way that provided them a sense of agency over illness management, allowed a greater acceptance of illness, and provided release from some of the negative emotions associated with their initial framing of their illness, which seemed to be related to the self-reported increase in engagement in illness management behaviors and consequently improved mental health outcomes.
This exploratory study provides evidence to support the idea that through addressing emotions associated with perceived cause of illness and facilitating understanding of etiology and risk-reducing strategies, PGC may lead to an increase in behaviors, which protect mental health.
尽管已经明确遗传信息不会导致行为改变，但关于遗传咨询是否能促进生活方式和健康行为的改变，从而改善健康结果的数据有限。
为了探讨这个问题，我们对 8 名有精神疾病生活经历并接受过精神科遗传咨询（PGC）的患者进行了半结构化访谈。我们使用解释性描述，使用恒定性比较方法进行数据分析。
参与者谈到，在接受 PGC 之前，他们对精神疾病的病因和保护行为存在误解和/或不确定，这导致他们感到内疚、羞耻、恐惧和绝望。参与者报告说，PGC 以一种提供他们对疾病管理的代理权的方式重新构建了事物，使他们更容易接受疾病，并减轻了与他们最初对疾病的框架相关的一些负面情绪，这似乎与他们报告的增加参与疾病管理行为以及随后改善心理健康结果有关。
这项探索性研究提供了证据支持这样一种观点，即通过解决与感知疾病原因相关的情绪，促进对病因和降低风险策略的理解，PGC 可能会导致保护心理健康的行为增加。
