Genetic counseling practice analysis.

Area of Science:

• Genetic Counseling Practice Analysis
• Professional Certification Standards
• Healthcare Education Assessment

Background:

• The American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC) is responsible for certifying genetic counselors.
• Regular updates to certification examinations are necessary to reflect current professional practices.
• A comprehensive practice analysis (PA) is a standard method for evaluating and updating certification content.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a practice analysis (PA) to inform the content of the ABGC certification examination.
• To ensure the genetic counseling certification examination accurately reflects current professional tasks and knowledge.
• To establish updated test specifications for future examination development.

Main Methods:

• A PA Advisory Committee, in collaboration with psychometricians, developed a survey.
• The survey was distributed to genetic counselors in the United States and Canada, and also made available online.
• A corrected response rate of 37.1% (677 responses) was achieved after applying significance criteria to survey tasks.

Main Results:

• Five major content domains encompassing 143 distinct tasks were identified through the PA.
• The results of the PA provided the basis for new certification test specifications.
• These updated specifications will guide the creation of future genetic counseling certification examinations.

Conclusions:

• The practice analysis successfully identified key domains and tasks in genetic counseling.
• New examination specifications have been developed based on the PA findings.
• ABGC will regularly conduct practice analyses to maintain the relevance of its certification examination.