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. 2021 Jan;12(1):91-99.
doi: 10.1007/s12687-020-00497-x. Epub 2020 Dec 15.

Communication about breast cancer genetic counseling with patients with limited health literacy or a migrant background: evaluation of a training program for healthcare professionals

Jeanine van der Giessen  1 , Mirjam P Fransen  2 , Peter Spreeuwenberg  3 , Mary Velthuizen  1 , Sandra van Dulmen  3   4 , Margreet G E M Ausems  5
Affiliations

Communication about breast cancer genetic counseling with patients with limited health literacy or a migrant background: evaluation of a training program for healthcare professionals

Jeanine van der Giessen et al. J Community Genet. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Access to breast cancer genetic counseling is suboptimal for patients with limited health literacy or a migrant background due to ineffective communication and lack of healthcare professionals' recommendation. This study examines the effect of a blended training program (Erfo4all) for healthcare professionals on their awareness, knowledge, and self-efficacy towards communication about genetic counseling with patients with limited health literacy or a migrant background. In total, 59 breast surgeons and specialized nurses from 16 Dutch hospitals completed an online module and group training. Knowledge, self-assessed awareness, and self-efficacy were assessed before the training and 33 participants also completed a posttest questionnaire 6 months after the training program. We also assessed the perceived applicability and relevance of the training program from healthcare professionals' perspectives. We found a significant increase in self-assessed awareness of the prevalence and impact of limited health literacy and in healthcare professionals' self-efficacy to recognize limited health literacy and to communicate effectively with patients with limited health literacy or a migrant background. We did not find an increase in knowledge score. Almost all healthcare professionals reported that they use the techniques learned in the training, such as the teach-back method and plain language, and felt more confident discussing breast cancer genetic counseling. Our results suggest that a blended training program for healthcare professionals has potential to improve their ability to communicate effectively about breast cancer genetic counseling with patients with limited health literacy or a migrant background and offers a promising way to increase the referral rate for these groups of patients.

Keywords: Blended training program; Breast cancer; Genetic testing; Health literacy; Referral.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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