When to break the news and whose responsibility is it? A cross-sectional qualitative study of health professionals' views regarding disclosure of BRCA genetic cancer risk

Disclosure of genetic risk to family members: A qualitative study on healthcare professionals' perceived roles and responsibilities

This paper presents the perspectives of healthcare professionals regarding their roles and responsibilities in supporting patients with the disclosure of genetic risk to their families. The study involved eight focus groups and two individual interviews with 34 healthcare professionals working in medical genetics services across Portugal. The data were analyzed thematically, resulting in three primary themes: i) informing patients about the risk to relatives; ii) ensuring patient confidentiality; and iii) encouraging family communication. Participants believed it is their responsibility to inform patients about the genetic risk to their relatives, with patients bearing a moral responsibility to convey this information. They explained that the principles of medical confidentiality of the patient take precedence over any direct responsibility to patients' relatives. Treating personal and familial genetic information separately was perceived as challenging to implement and potentially problematic. While most participants reported encouraging patients to inform their relatives, the extent to which they facilitate this communication varies and is also constrained by lack of resources and concerns about complying with legal requirements. Some participants called for clearer national guidelines. These results contribute for ongoing discussions regarding the scope of practice and the roles and responsibilities of healthcare professionals in appropriately cascading pertinent information to at-risk relatives.

Current State of Genomics in Nursing: A Scoping Review of Healthcare Provider Oriented (Clinical and Educational) Outcomes (2012-2022)

In the 20 years since the initial sequencing of the human genome, genomics has become increasingly relevant to nursing. We sought to chart the current state of genomics in nursing by conducting a systematic scoping review of the literature in four databases (2012-2022). The included articles were categorized according to the Cochrane Collaboration outcome domains/sub-domains, and thematic analysis was employed to identify key topical areas to summarize the state of the science. Of 8532 retrieved articles, we identified 232 eligible articles. The articles primarily reported descriptive studies from the United States and other high-income countries (191/232, 82%). More than half (126/232, 54.3%) aligned with the "healthcare provider oriented outcomes" outcome domain. Three times as many articles related to the "knowledge and understanding" sub-domain compared to the "consultation process" subdomain (96 vs. 30). Five key areas of focus were identified, including "nursing practice" (50/126, 40%), "genetic counseling and screening" (29/126, 23%), "specialist nursing" (21/126, 17%), "nurse preparatory education" (17/126, 13%), and "pharmacogenomics" (9/126, 7%). Only 42/126 (33%) articles reported interventional studies. To further integrate genomics into nursing, study findings indicate there is a need to move beyond descriptive work on knowledge and understanding to focus on interventional studies and implementation of genomics into nursing practice.

Pakistani healthcare professionals' perceptions of communication with patients and their relatives about hereditary breast cancer: a qualitative study in a LMIC

Pakistan has the highest incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer in Asia, with high numbers of patients diagnosed at a young age suggesting the possibility of an inherited cancer syndrome. Communication of hereditary breast cancer (HBC) risk information with patients could enable earlier detection of the condition in relatives and reduce mortality rates. This study aimed to explore perceptions of healthcare professionals (HCPs) in Pakistan about communication with patients and their relatives about HBC. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with eighteen HCPs during March to May 2020 in Lahore. Thematic analysis shows the HCPs were generally supportive of informing patients themselves about HBC, but believed it was the patients' role to inform their relatives. HCPs also highlighted important barriers to communication with patients about HBC, including (i) patients' low socioeconomic status and educational attainment; (ii) high prevalence of the social stigma of breast cancer; and (iii) lack of health resources and facilities to provide genetic testing for HBC. In conclusion, HCPs would value the development of interventions to support communication between HCPs and patients. They also highlighted the need for interventions to support intrafamilial communication about HBC. Much research and political support are needed to address patient, social, and systemic-level barriers to facilitate communication about HBC.

Proband-mediated interventions to increase disclosure of genetic risk in families with a BRCA or Lynch syndrome condition: a systematic review

Interventions to assist family communication about inherited cancer risk have the potential to improve family cancer outcomes. This review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of proband-mediated interventions employed within genetics clinics to increase disclosure of genetic risk to at-risk relatives. MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PubMed and PsycINFO were searched for publications between 1990-2020. The quality of studies was assessed. From 5605 records reviewed, 9 studies (4 randomised control trials and 5 cohort studies) were included involving families with BRCA1, BRCA2 and Lynch syndrome. Intervention delivery modes included genetic counselling with additional telephone or in-person follow-up, letters, videos, and decision aids. The percentages of at-risk relatives informed by the proband about their risk ranged from 54.0% to 95.5% in the intervention or family-mediated comparison group. Of those who were informed, 24.4-60.0% contacted a genetics clinic and 22.8-76.2% had genetic testing after they were counselled at a genetics clinic. Significant differences between intervention and control group were reported on all three outcomes by one study, and with relatives contacting a genetics clinic by another study. The studies suggest but do not conclusively show, that tailored genetic counselling with additional follow-up can increase both the proportion of informed relatives and relatives who contact the genetics clinic. With the increase in germline testing, interventions are required to consider the family communication process and address post-disclosure variables (e.g., relative's perceptions, emotional reactions) through engagement with probands and relatives to maximise the public health benefit of identifying inherited cancer risk in families.

Genetic and genomic nursing competency among nurses in tertiary general hospitals and cancer hospitals in mainland China: a nationwide survey

OBJECTIVES

To explore genetic/genomic nursing competency and associated factors among nurses from tertiary general and specialist cancer hospitals in mainland China and compare the competencies of nurses from the two types of hospitals.

DESIGN AND SETTING

A cross-sectional survey was conducted from November 2019 to January 2020, wherein 2118 nurses were recruited from 8 tertiary general hospitals and 4 cancer hospitals in mainland China. We distributed electronic questionnaires to collect data on nurses' demographics, work-related variables and genomic nursing competency.

PARTICIPANTS

2118 nurses were recruited via a three-stage stratified cluster sampling method.

RESULTS

More than half (59.1%, 1252/2118) of the participants reported that their curriculum included genetics/genomics content. The mean nurses' genomic knowledge score was 8.30/12 (95% CI=8.21 to 8.39). Only 5.4% had always collected a complete family history in the past 3 months. Compared with general hospital nurses, slightly more cancer hospital nurses (75.6% vs 70.6%, p=0.010) recognised the importance of genomics, while there was no significant difference in the knowledge scores (8.38 vs 8.21, p>0.05). Gender (β=0.06, p=0.005), years of clinical nursing (β=-0.07, p=0.002), initial level of nursing education (β=0.10, p<0.001), membership of the Chinese Nursing Association (β=0.06, p=0.004), whether their curriculum included genetics/genomics content (β=0.08, p=0.001) and attitude towards becoming more educated in genetics/genomics (β=0.25, p<0.001) were significantly associated with the nurses' genomic knowledge score.

CONCLUSION

The levels of genomic knowledge among mainland Chinese nurses in tertiary hospitals were moderate. The overall genomic competency of cancer hospital nurses was comparable to that of general hospital nurses. Further genomic training is needed for nurses in China to increase their genomic competency and accelerate the integration of genomics into nursing practice.

Empathy and boundary turbulence in cancer communication

OBJECTIVES

To describe and deepen our understanding of patient-centeredness, empathy, and boundary management in challenging conversations. Previous studies show frequent physician self-disclosure, while empathy and boundary management are infrequent.

METHODS

Three standardized patients (SPs) portrayed cancer patients consulting a new community-based physician, resulting in 39 audio-recorded SP visits to 19 family physicians and 20 medical oncologists. Transcripts underwent qualitative iterative thematic analysis, informed by grounded theory, followed by directed content analysis. We further defined the identified communicative categories with descriptive and correlational calculations.

RESULTS

We identified patient-centered physician response categories--empathy, affirmation, and acknowledgement; and physician-centered categories-transparency, self-disclosure, and projection. Acknowledgement and affirmation responses were frequent and empathy rare. Physician transparency and self-disclosure were common. Useful and not useful self-disclosures were highly correlated; empathy, useful and not useful transparency, and projection were moderately correlated. Most physicians used self-disclosure but few of these were judged patient-centered.

CONCLUSIONS

Physicians expressing empathy and patient-centered transparency were also more likely to use projection and physician-centered transparency, thus engaging in communication "boundary turbulence." Patients may benefit from physicians' improved use of empathy and boundary management.