The role of kinship and friendship network in Genetic Counseling Seeking
Date Issued
2005
Date
2005
Author(s)
Kuo, Huey-Jen
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
In recent years the progress of human genetics is very rapid, especially in the fields of cell biology, biochemistry and molecular genetics. These technologies are now applied widely in prenatal diagnosis, genetic screening and gene therapy, etc., and therefore the requirement for genetic counseling is increasing quickly. Medical seeking is usually affected by many factors including the kinship and friendship networks. Owing to the difficulties in obtaining and understating genetic information, and the complex links of genetic diseases with the family members, the behavior of seeking for genetic counseling may be different from that for other diseases. Currently there is still no related data in Taiwan in the Chinese societies.
This is a survey by purposive sampling. There were 208 individuals seeking for genetic counseling willing to participate in this study. Their ages ranged from 15 to 65 years. A structured questionnaire was used, and the contents included: personal characteristics, personality inventory, genetic cognition scale, insight scale, kinship network scale, and friendship network scale. The data were translated and analyzed by the SPSS/Windows 12.0 software.
The findings were: First, each individual proposed 2.70 relatives (primarily spouses and mothers) and 1.85 friends (primarily colleagues and the classmates) with intimate relationship. Second, for the kinship, accompany during medical seeking and discussion after medical seeking were positively correlated to Medical seeking. Supporting for medical seeking and discussion before medical seeking were positively correlated to compliance. Third, for friendship, providing for related information and accompany during medical seeking were positively correlated to seeking autonomy. Supporting for medical seeking and discussion before medical seeking were positively correlated to compliance. Fourth, friendship was weaker in individuals seeking for genetic counseling than for other medical purpose. Fifth, logistic regression analysis data, after control for basic characteristic and the genetic cognition items, revealed that discussion after seeking is the most explainable factor influencing medical seeking behavior for genetic counseling.
Therefore there are close correlations between kinship and friendship networks and seeking for genetic counseling. Although the relatives may be cursed for the disease, kinship still strongly supports the seeking for genetic counseling. For example the discussing after genetic counseling positively affects the compliance. On the other hands, the friendship network seems to be weaker in this group of individuals. This suggests that hereditary character of the diseases may induce social isolation, which should worth further attention in the future.
Subjects
遺傳諮詢
遺傳諮詢求醫行為
親屬網絡
友誼網絡
genetic counseling
genetic counseling seeking
kinship network
friendship network
SDGs
Type
other
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