The role and impact of personal faith and religion among genetic service providers

Geller, Gail; Micco, Ellyn; Silver, Rachel; Kolodner, Ken

doi:10.1002/ajmg.c.30193

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Among the most prevalent are compassion stress, the burden of professional responsibility, negative patient regard, inauthenticity, and concerns about informational bias. Some types of distress, including concerns about informational bias, personal values conflicts and burden of professional responsibility, may be especially pertinent to genetic counseling, and appear to be experienced more acutely by genetic counselors 53. Although the literature suggests that genetic counselors experience compassion stress and fatigue, 42, 47 our results indicate that compassion stress also weighs on clinical geneticists and nurses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Distress and burnout among genetic service providers

Bernhardt

Rushton

Carrese

et al. 2009

Genetics in Medicine

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose: To determine the nature, sources, prevalence, and consequences of distress and burnout among genetics professionals. Methods: Mailed survey of randomly selected clinical geneticists (MDs), genetic counselors, and genetic nurses. Results: Two hundred and fourteen providers completed the survey (55% response rate). Eight discrete sources of distress were identified forming a valid 28-item scale (␣ ϭ 0.89). The greatest sources of distress were compassion stress, the burden of professional responsibility, negative patient regard, and concerns about informational bias. Genetic counselors were significantly more likely to experience personal values conflicts, burden of professional responsibility, and concerns about informational bias than MDs or nurses. Burnout scores were lower among those practicing more than 20 years and nurses. Distress scores were positively correlated with burnout and professional dissatisfaction (P Ͻ 0.0001). Eighteen percent of respondents think about leaving patient care, and burnout was the most significant predictor. Predictors of burnout included greater distress, fewer years in practice, working in universitybased settings, being a genetic counselor or an MD, and deriving less meaning from patient care. Conclusions: Genetic service providers experience various types of distress that may be risk factors for burnout and professional dissatisfaction. Interventions to reduce distress and burnout are needed for both trainees and practitioners. Genet Med 2009:11(7): 527-535.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Distress and burnout among genetic service providers

Bernhardt

Rushton

Carrese

et al. 2009

Genetics in Medicine

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Others may feel that any mention of religion with patients is politically exploitive and professionally inappropriate. For some counselors, simply admitting their spiritual orientation in the workplace may be professionally hazardous [Geller et al, in press]. Thus depending on the local climate, the political sensitivity of religious discussions may discourage counselors from exploring religious or spiritual issues with their clients.…”

Section: Challenges To Conducting Spiritual Assessments In Genetic Comentioning

confidence: 99%

Making sense of genetic uncertainty: The role of religion and spirituality

White

2009

American J of Med Genetics Pt C

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper argues that to the extent that religious and spiritual beliefs can help people cope with genetic uncertainty, a limited spiritual assessment may be appropriate in genetic counseling. The paper opens by establishing why genetic information is inherently uncertain and why this uncertainty can be medically, morally, and spiritually problematic. This is followed by a review of the range of factors that can contribute to risk assessments, including a few heuristics commonly used in responses to uncertainty. The next two sections summarize recent research on the diverse roles of religious and spiritual beliefs in genetic decisions and challenges to conducting spiritual assessments in genetic counseling. Based on these findings, religious and spiritual beliefs are posited as serving essentially as a heuristic that some people will utilize in responding to their genetic risks. In the interests of helping such clients, a limited spiritual assessment is recommended and described. Some of the challenges and risks associated with this limited assessment are discussed. Since some religious and spiritual beliefs can conflict with the values of medicine, some decisions will remain problematic.

show abstract

“…Acknowledging religion and spirituality as a resource in pregnancy can open conversational doors within the genetic counseling session (Anderson 2009;Bartlett & Johnson 2009;Geller et al 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spiritual Exploration in the Prenatal Genetic Counseling Session

Sagaser¹,

Hashmi²,

Carter³

et al. 2016

Journal of Genetic Counseling

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Religion and spirituality (R/S) are important components of many individuals’ lives, and spirituality is often employed by women coping with pregnancy complications. To characterize how prenatal genetic counselors might address spiritual issues with patients, 283 English and Spanish speaking women receiving prenatal genetic counseling in Houston, Texas were surveyed post‐counseling using both the Brief RCope and questions regarding interest in spiritual exploration. Genetic counselors were concurrently surveyed to identify religious/spiritual language used within sessions and perceived importance of R/S. Genetic counselors were significantly more likely to identify R/S as important to a patient when patients used religious/spiritual language (p < 0.001). Conversely, when no religious/spiritual terms were present, the counselor felt uncertain about the importance of R/S 63 % of the time. However, 67 % of patients reported that they felt comfortable sharing their faith as it relates to their pregnancy, and 93 % reported using positive religious coping. Less than 25 % reported a desire for overt religious actions such as prayer or scripture exploration. Therefore, most patients’ desires for spiritual exploration center in the decision making and coping processes that are in line with the genetic counseling scope of practice. Thus, counselors should feel empowered to incorporate spiritual exploration into their patient conversations.

show abstract

The role and impact of personal faith and religion among genetic service providers

Cited by 15 publications

References 28 publications

Distress and burnout among genetic service providers

Distress and burnout among genetic service providers

Making sense of genetic uncertainty: The role of religion and spirituality

Spiritual Exploration in the Prenatal Genetic Counseling Session

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About