Research question: How might the clinical geneticistcounselee-relationship change if the clinical geneticist is trained in emotional intelligence and empathy and uses these skills within the focus on counselling in terms of emotional outbursts of counselees during post-test sessions in Human Genetics?
Summary: In medical genetics, the counselee is presented with unchangeable biological facts, such as hereditary variables and their apparent or potential impact on the organism. That is why the major goal of GCS is to educate individuals about diseases or the risk of developing a disease, the accompanying symptoms as well as behavioural strategies to deal with these symptoms or risks and how to use that information to make a decision whether to undergo genetic testing, be included to surveillance program or other preventative treatments, or even the choice not to know.
Technically, it is not possible to influence a genetic mutation that already exists or was inherited. Therefore, any result, that significantly alters the perception of the future in a negative way is considered to be onerous findings.
This could be a pathogenic mutation, which is considered as casual and is responsible for causing a disease, for example cancer or a muscular disease. Onerous findings typically bring fear, resistance, and anger in addition to the impression of having little freedom and being at the mercy of others. This is when the post-test session becomes a highly emotional setting, which places heavy demands on both the counselee and the clinical geneticist.
As a result, clinical geneticists must be excellent communicators since genetic counselling is commonly referred to as talking medicine in the field of human genetics. Despite basic practice and role play within medical studies, neither emotion nor empathy has yet been integrated to the medical curriculum. Additionally, the counselee has been the focus of quality management for genetic counselling.
The purpose of this review is to demonstrate why a focus on the physician is equally important in addition to highlighting the significance of the integrating emotions, empathy, communication, and interaction in the context of genetic counselling and emphasising the benefits these factors have on the clinical geneticist-counselee relationship.
Method: A scoping review was conducted. A hand search was added to the specialised database research. After extensive selection, 55 sources were included in the review.
Result: The emphasis on the physician’s abilities in the complex subject of genetic counselling has not yet been thoroughly investigated. As a result, there have not been enough significant research on genetic counselling to demonstrate the value of individual strategies for fostering communication.
This review’s findings are in part in agreement with earlier research that have demonstrated the urgent necessity for the integration of psychology in the field of human genetics. Education within consultation and dialogue are two key factors in genetic counselling.
With aspects such as variants of unknown significance and risk communication, which can cause high levels of distress, the clinical geneticist must have the appropriate expertise in interaction and communication to adapt the dialogue to the needs of the counselee.
There will never be a one-size-fits-all approach to genetic counselling due to the numerous variables involved.
However, this could be obtained by providing the clinical geneticist with training that equips them with a complete set of communication and interaction skills by teaching them several models based on recent research. To ensure this, a consortium-like organisation needs to be established.
The findings of this review suggest that a diverse skillset is not only advantageous for the clinical geneticist counselee relationship but also for the wellbeing of both parties.these hypotheses, an online study was conducted, involving 45
