ABSTRACT
Presently, a biopsychosocial model of understanding health governs and illness has stopped being simply a medical problem. Consequently, the role of psychology in health care is progressively becoming more salient. Counseling is a major field of psychological science with knowledge and experience for dealing with a variety of issues and has much to offer to medical settings. “Genetic counseling” (a term first used by Reed in 1947) is a communication process regarding the occurrence and risk of recurrence of genetic disorders within a family. “Cancer Genetic Counseling” specifically has the aim of educating individuals about cancer risk, cancer prevention and early detection in high-risk breast and ovarian cancer. Genetic testing is available for mutations in several genes, including BRCA1 and BRCA2, mutations in these two genes can produce a hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndrome.
The last decade has seen a marked increase in the demand for genetic counseling and predictive genetic testing as patients attempt to comprehend their risks of inherited disorders and understand their options for dealing with the risk of occurrence, without causing undue anxiety to the patients being tested. For genetic counseling to be effective, it must improve an individual’s understanding but also have little adverse emotional impact. The individual must be able to make informed choices regarding risk management and future screening. Although cancer genetic testing is an effective instrument for cancer prevention, little is known about the psychological impact it may have on its users. In our research, we investigated how coping strategies and psychological distress predict women’s abilities to face the cancer genetic testing process. Results from studies conducted suggest the importance of coping strategies on the prediction of psychological distress, allowing psychologists to draw up appropriate intervention strategies during cancer genetic testing.
