Esplen, Mary Jane

Gregory, Deborah

LeDrew, Holly

Ludlow, Valerie

Parfrey, Patrick

Watkins, Kathy

Way, Christine

English

PubMed

Christine Way

Kathy Watkins

Holly LeDrew

Valerie Ludlow

Mary Esplen

Deborah Gregory

Patrick Parfrey

Crossref

Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice

Development and testing of the Hereditary Diseases and Genetic Testing (HD-GT) scale

Way Christine

Watkins Kathy

LeDrew Holly

Ludlow Valerie

Esplen Mary

Gregory Deborah

Parfrey Patrick

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Esplen, Mary J

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ORAL PRESENTATION Open AccessDevelopment and testing of the HereditaryDiseases and Genetic Testing (HD-GT) scaleChristine Way1*, Kathy Watkins2,3, Holly LeDrew1, Valerie Ludlow3, Mary Jane Esplen4, Deborah Gregory3,5,Patrick Parfrey3From 14th Annual Meeting of the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Colorectal CancerDallas, TX, USA. 12-13 October 2010BackgroundDespite the expanding research base on the genetic testingprocess, limited insight exists on how personal under-standings of hereditary cancer as well as situationaland contextual factors influence an individual’s decision-making prior to and following predictive testing for her-editary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC). Thefailure of existing scales to detect psychosocial and beha-vioral difficulties in this population has led researchers toquestion the adequate sensitivity of these instruments.The purpose of this study was to develop and validatemeasures for evaluating the preparedness for and experi-ences during and following predictive testing for HNPCC.MethodsA grounded theory study of individuals from familieswith a confirmed HNPCC presence provided the datafor item generation and scale construction. The Heredi-tary Diseases and Genetic Testing (HD-GT) scale con-sists of 8 scales designed to measure acceptance ofhereditary-based diseases and engagement in the genetictesting process. Scale readability and content validitywere assessed prior to data collection. The HD-GT scalewas administered to a sample of individuals (N = 242;141 carriers and 101 non-carriers) from families with aMSH2, MLH1 or MSH6 mutation. The Multitrait Ana-lysis Program-Revised (MAP-R) evaluated data quality,and scoring and scaling assumptions.ResultsPreliminary findings support the logic of the psycho-metric structure of the HD-GT. The rating scale steps(0 to 4) seem to have meaningful divisions as evidencedby the response spread. The MAP-R analysis supporteditem-to-scale appropriateness, scale reliability (≥ .75)and pattern of scale correlations (internal consistencyscores significantly higher than intrascale correlations).Study findings suggest that the family history of cancerdoes have a significant impact on decision-makingregarding genetic testing. There are also indications thatindividuals place high value on having all potentially at-risk family members participate in genetic testing, butare often challenged trying to convince them to acceptthe need for testing.ConclusionsThe HD-GT scale represents an initial effort to evaluatepersonal, situational and contextual factors influencinggenetic testing decision-making. Study findings suggestthat the subscales appear to be sensitive enough to mea-sure the wide-range of psychosocial and behavioralimplications of genetic testing. Further, findings haveimportant implications for health care providers. If pro-viders are to work effectively with HNPCC families theymust have the appropriate knowledge, education andskills to recognize the features of HNPCC, take thor-ough client and family histories, provide support andcoordinate care for these individuals.AcknowledgementFunded by Canadian Institute for Health Research and Genome CanadaAuthor details1School of Nursing, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL,Canada. 2Centre for Nursing Studies, Eastern Regional Integrated HealthAuthority, St. John’s, NL, Canada. 3Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Faculty ofMedicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada.4Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto,* Correspondence: cway@mun.ca1School of Nursing, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL,CanadaFull list of author information is available at the end of the articleWay et al. Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice 2011, 9(Suppl 1):O3http://www.hccpjournal.com/content/9/S1/O3© 2011 Way et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative CommonsAttribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction inany medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Toronto, ON, Canada. 5Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority,St. John’s, NL, Canada.Published: 10 March 2011doi:10.1186/1897-4287-9-S1-O3Cite this article as: Way et al.: Development and testing of theHereditary Diseases and Genetic Testing (HD-GT) scale. Hereditary Cancerin Clinical Practice 2011 9(Suppl 1):O3.Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Centraland take full advantage of: • Convenient online submission• Thorough peer review• No space constraints or color figure charges• Immediate publication on acceptance• Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and Google Scholar• Research which is freely available for redistributionSubmit your manuscript at www.biomedcentral.com/submitWay et al. Hereditary Cancer in Clinical Practice 2011, 9(Suppl 1):O3http://www.hccpjournal.com/content/9/S1/O3Page 2 of 2

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Development and testing of the Hereditary Diseases and Genetic Testing (HD-GT) scale

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