Genetic counselling: information given, recall and satisfaction

The aims of this study are to categorise the key points given in genetic counselling, assess the amount and type of information recalled, and examine the relationships between counsellees' knowledge, satisfaction with information received, the meeting of expectations, concern and anxiety. Because of the variety of consultations, a knowledge questionnaire of the key points was constructed for each individual counsellee, with acceptable inter-rater reliability. The information items judged to be the key points in the consultations were assigned to 13 different content categories. Thirty-two counsellees were sent a questionnaire assessing knowledge and other outcomes two to four weeks after attending a genetic counselling consultation. The mean percentage of key points recalled correctly was 76% (s.d. 17%) with 100% recall for family issues and 68-78% recall for genetic or medical information. Knowledge was not associated with satisfaction with information received nor with level of concern or anxiety following genetic counselling. These results suggest the importance of assessing multiple outcomes of genetic counselling.