Knowledge, Beliefs, and Attitudes Concerning Genetic Testing Among Young Jordanians

Medical genetic testing is an evolving side of clinical care that helps people to make informed medical and lifestyle decisions. The source of knowledge, personal beliefs, and attitude towards genetic testing are the main determinative factors of getting optimal utilization of such technology in reducing/prevention of diseases.

A structured survey was used to assess the knowledge, beliefs, and attitude regarding genetic testing among 463 young adults aged 18 years or older living in the North of Jordan.

More than three-quarters (77.1%) of the respondents were familiar with the term genetic testing. The most common sources of knowledge were: education they received (44.8%), the internet (37.5%), and social media (17.2%). Most (93.9%) of the respondents believed that genetic testing is a useful tool to diagnose and prevent genetic diseases. Almost three-quarters (72.7%) of the respondents believed that the health care system provides advice or genetic counseling to those with a genetic disease. A total of 9.6% of the respondents thought that genetic testing might cause a physical risk to their lives. In addition, 11.3% of the respondents believed that genetic testing is forbidden and not permissible and about 6.3% did not agree in performing genetic testing in the future. Finally, about half (53.4%) of the respondents consider genetic testing affordable and the remainder consider it costly.

Our findings emphasize the importance of acquiring knowledge about genetic testing among young individuals, Issues related to knowledge were identified and should be further improved, such as cost prediction, safety, and the legitimacy of genetic testing to get better outcomes in the Jordanian community.