Family health information sharing among older adults: reaching more family members

Abstract

Although family health history (FHH) information has tremendous potential in the prevention of common complex diseases such as heart disease and cancer, lack of knowledge about one's own FHH among the public hinders its utility. Older individuals often desire to contribute to the well-being of younger generations and also play critical roles in disseminating this information. This study evaluated psychosocial factors associated with the extent of FHH communication within families. Older adults (N = 110) were interviewed at three senior centers in an urban community. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis showed that respondents who received FHH from a parent reported 41 % more family members with whom they shared FHH (b=0.34, p < 0.001) controlling for the family network size. Furthermore, one unit increase in the number of family members with whom respondents exchange reciprocal emotional support (b=0.04, p<0.01), perceived familiarity with own FHH (b=0.14, p=0.01), and self-efficacy to share FHH (b= 0.18, p=0.02) were associated with 4, 15, and 20 % increases in the number of family members with whom respondents shared FHH, respectively. Future efforts may inform older adults about their important role in modeling FHH communication behavior to encourage information sharing in future generations while providing information about how to collect and disseminate FHH to increase their familiarity and ability to share FHH within the family.

Family Ties: The Role of Family Context in Family Health History Communication About Cancer

“…Women who reported a higher sense of self-efficacy to communicate cancer risk were more likely to also report gathering family cancer history information, sharing cancer risk information, and having more frequent cancer risk conversations with relatives. As such, our results contribute to the existing literature linking self-efficacy to health communication (Ashida, Goodman, Stafford, Lachance, & Kaphingst, 2012; Ashida & Schafer, 2015), and extends it to discussions specific to cancer among general population women. Future research may incorporate more recent theoretical perspectives on information seeking such as the theory of motivated information management (TMIM; Afifi & Weiner, 2004).…”

“…For instance, one study found that participants with high genetic self-efficacy (i.e., understanding, assessing, and explaining the role of genes in health) were almost twice as likely to know their family health history and perceive it as ‘very important’ (Ashida, Goodman, Stafford, Lachance, & Kaphingst, 2012). In a sample of older adults, Ashida and Schafer (2015) found that higher self-efficacy to share family health history was significantly associated with having shared such information with more relatives. Moreover, utilizing the theory of motivated information management, researchers found communication self-efficacy to be a robust predictor of seeking family health history information providing strong support for inclusion in investigations surrounding cancer risk communication (Hovick, 2014; Rauscher & Hesse, 2014).…”

“…Women are seen as family health historians and the responsible ones for communicating health information within the family (Koehly et al, 2009; Nycum, Avard, & Knoppers, 2009; Wiseman, Dancyger, & Michie, 2010). A generational pattern has also emerged, with older generations often adopting a sense of responsibility for communicating and sharing information about family health history with younger generations (Ashida & Schafer, 2015; Hovick, Yamasaki; Burton-Chase, & Peterson, 2015; Yamasaki & Hovick, 2015). Cultural differences have also been found, with Latinos and African Americans holding certain beliefs (e.g., shame; fatalism) and values (e.g., maintaining independence; protecting relatives from worry) that are negatively associated with family health history communication (Haggstrom & Shapiro, 2006; Kinney, Gammon, Coworth, Simonsen, & Arce-Laretta, 2010; Yamasaki & Hovick, 2015).…”

Cancer Risk Information Sharing: The Experience of Individuals Receiving Genetic Counseling forBRCA1/2Mutations

“…Older individuals may be more inclined to feel a responsibility to inform family members about cancer risk due to generativity (Ashida & Schafer, 2015). However, those who were discouraged by others from genetic testing were less likely to share results with family members, which suggests that earlier cancer communication influences future communication.…”

Promoção da saúde em famílias com paramiloidose: papéis dos mais velhos junto dos mais novos

“…Assim, as doenças hereditárias são doenças da família, e a gestão dos comportamentos de saúde em indivíduos afetados ou em risco de doenças genéticas envolve toda a família. A literatura tem sugerido a importância dos elementos mais velhos no contexto familiar, em particular quando existem doenças crônicas severas, principalmente hereditárias 7,8 . Esse papel tem sido abordado sobretudo no âmbito dos cânceres hereditários, mas permanece pouco explorado, principalmente como recurso para os mais novos.…”