GENETIC COUNSELING STRATEGIES WITH MEXICAN-ORIGIN WOMEN

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While for most women genetics screening is now standard in prenatal care, ethnic minority and immigrant women are less likely than others to be tested. Effective communication of complex technical information is an essential aspect of providing access to prenatal genetics services. Researchers report that prenatal care providers may tailor the presentation of genetics information to fit their perceptions of clients capacity to understand complex genetics information, especially when clients have little education or poor English language skills. However, as yet no research has focused specifically on the nature or context of such adaptations. Using a combined qualitative-quantitative approach, the proposed research will explore clinicians strategies for communicating prenatal genetics information and service options to Mexican- origin clients in California and Texas, where Mexican-origin women constitute a large and growing proportion of women in prenatal care. The study will focus on clinicians with different professional backgrounds working in diverse practice settings within distinct regulatory contexts. Our specific aims our 1) to identify the sociocultural factors which clinicians report affect their strategies for providing prenatal genetics information and service options to low income Mexican-origin clients, 2) to identify the institutional, practical, economic, and professional factors clinicians perceive as affecting their strategies for communicating prenatal genetics information and service options to such clients, and 3) to contrast the experiences and perspectives of clinicians providing prenatal genetics services to low income Mexican-origin women in California, which has a legal mandate regulating such services and Texas, which has no such comprehensive legal mandate.