Abstract
Abstract Purpose: With the support of the Avon Foundation, genetic counseling is available to underserved populations at the San Francisco General Hospital. One of the major challenges in providing genetic counseling for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer among these women is the lack of culturally appropriate educational tools.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of a Cancer Risk Educational Intervention (CREdIT), a novel audio-visual PowerPoint-based tool as an adjunct to genetic counseling. Methods: CREdIT took on average 15 minutes to view and was available in English and Spanish. It employed non-scientific images and language specifically designed for use by our target population. Participant questionnaires evaluating patient satisfaction, risk perception, knowledge of cancer genetics, and anxiety were administered before and after the intervention and at 1 year follow-up. For each of the continuous outcomes, differences from pre- to post-intervention were assessed with analyses of variance, while chi-squared tests were used to examine the differences among categorical variables. Results: A total of 52 women of diverse backgrounds who were on average 47 years old (range 27-69) took part in the study. Of these, 15% reported previous history of cancer, 58% were non-white and 59% had a below college education. Twenty-one percent viewed the presentation in Spanish. Following the presentation of CREdIT, we found an increase in the knowledge of BRCA inheritance and associated risk of malignancy, and options for risk reduction (all p < .05). However, participants' perceived risk perception did not change from baseline to post-CREdIT (p=.73). Virtually all participants (98%) reported that CREdIT helped them learn more about cancer risk. Although patient anxiety decreased post-CREdIT (p=.02), 29% patients reported that CREdIT made them worry more about cancer. Among 32 participants who were interviewed at the long-term follow-up, we found that, compared to post-CREdIT, knowledge changed for only two of the seven questions (p< .05). There were also no changes in anxiety or cancer worry compared to baseline (both p< .05). Conclusions: These interim findings suggest that our intervention was successful at increasing knowledge regarding breast cancer genetics without increasing anxiety or cancer worry. Our long-term goal is to perform a large-scale evaluation among underserved women at risk of hereditary cancer across the Avon Foundation-supported clinics nationwide. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(24 Suppl):Abstract nr 4074.
Published Version
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