Knowledge and understanding of pharmacogenomic testing among patients and health care professionals: A scoping review

To support the introduction of pharmacogenomic tests in current practice, this study identifies the factors associated with a better understanding of the information related to genetic, genomic and/or pharmacogenomic tests by patients and health care professionals.

Following a scoping review methodology, a search for literature was conducted with keywords related to health literacy and knowledge translation in the context of pharmacogenomic tests. Since only 6 articles were identified, the context of genetic or genomic testing were added to the inclusion criteria, leading to 24 articles.

Fourteen of the studies analyzed focused on genetic predictive, diagnostic or carrier tests, or concerned genetics in general, while ten addressed or included the use of pharmacogenomic tests. Demographic, individual, experiential and contextual factors were associated with a better understanding of the information related to genetic, genomic and/or pharmacogenomic tests among the targeted populations.

Our review shows that there is currently little empirical research available to identify the factors to consider in order to develop educational tools and resources specific to pharmacogenomics.

Expanding our review to include genetic and genomic testing factors can serve as a starting point for the evidence to be validated in future empirical research.