Lead Author: Katharine Cardiff
Submitted by: Amy Lorion, NBOME

According to Cardiff et al., “Psychiatric genetic counseling (pGC) has been demonstrated to have meaningful positive outcomes for people with psychiatric conditions and their families. However, it is not widely accessed, and clinical genetics services tend to receive few referrals for these indications.” To gain insight into how to breach this gap, the authors undertook a study “to understand the perceptions of and reactions to a simulated pGC session among psychiatrists.” The study involved recording a 65-minute simulated pGC session with an SP.

The video was shown to 12 psychiatrists who were then interviewed regarding their knowledge of pGC before and after viewing the video, their perceptions of the role of psychiatrists in pGC, and barriers to implementation of pGC. The article does not provide details regarding the simulation itself but does include study participants’ reactions to having viewed the recorded session. This viewing seemed to provide them with new insight into pGC and, according to the authors, “[a]fter viewing a simulated pGC session, psychiatrists recognized the psychosocial skillset of genetic counselors and identified alternate areas where pGC could be of use.”

Read the full article in the American Journal of Medical Genetics here.

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