Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
J Genet Couns. 2024 Jun;33(3):528-538. doi: 10.1002/jgc4.1745. Epub 2023 Jul 18.
The role of a genetic counselor is to assist individuals and their families to comprehend and adapt to genetic information. However, a genetic counselor's role in clients' mental well-being is unclear. Mental well-being is an important component of overall health and it can be affected during the adaptation to genetic information. It is, therefore, essential to consider how mental well-being is viewed in genetic counseling practice. Our research aimed to investigate genetic counselors' perceptions of their role in clients' mental well-being. Our objectives were to (1) understand what genetic counselors perceived their role to be in clients' mental well-being and (2) investigate what factors influence genetic counselors' perceptions of practice. We recruited participants via advertisements in the Human Genetics Society of Australasia and the Australasian Society of Genetic Counselors newsletters, and through the Genetic Support Network of Victoria social media. We completed semi-structured in-depth interviews with 12 Australian genetic counselors and analyzed the interviews using inductive thematic analysis. We found that genetic counselors viewed clients' mental well-being as an important and crucial part of their practice. Three key themes were identified, first, all the participants' views of clients' mental well-being were shaped by personal and professional beliefs. Second, all participants noted that there were factors external to them, such as workplace and professional guidelines, which shaped their role in clients' mental well-being. Third, all those interviewed noted the boundaries of their professional role in clients' mental well-being. From these three themes, we determined that genetic counselors see clients' mental well-being as an integral part of their practice. Our findings add to the extant literature and can shape future practice in this field. Furthermore, we identified how future research priorities could further our knowledge in this area.
遗传咨询师的角色是帮助个人及其家庭理解和适应遗传信息。然而，遗传咨询师在客户心理健康方面的角色尚不清楚。心理健康是整体健康的一个重要组成部分，它可能会受到适应遗传信息的影响。因此，必须考虑如何在遗传咨询实践中看待心理健康。我们的研究旨在调查遗传咨询师对其在客户心理健康方面的角色的看法。我们的目标是（1）了解遗传咨询师认为他们在客户心理健康方面的角色是什么，以及（2）调查哪些因素影响遗传咨询师对实践的看法。我们通过在澳大利亚人类遗传学学会和澳大利亚遗传咨询师协会通讯以及维多利亚遗传支持网络的社交媒体上发布广告来招募参与者。我们对 12 名澳大利亚遗传咨询师进行了半结构化深入访谈，并使用归纳主题分析对访谈进行了分析。我们发现，遗传咨询师认为客户的心理健康是其实践的重要和关键部分。确定了三个关键主题，首先，所有参与者对客户心理健康的看法都受到个人和专业信仰的影响。其次，所有参与者都指出，有一些外部因素，如工作场所和专业准则，影响了他们在客户心理健康方面的角色。第三，所有接受采访的人都指出了他们在客户心理健康方面的专业角色的界限。从这三个主题中，我们确定遗传咨询师将客户的心理健康视为其实践的一个组成部分。我们的研究结果丰富了现有文献，并为该领域的未来实践提供了参考。此外，我们确定了未来研究重点如何进一步增进我们对这一领域的了解。
