A text messaging-based approach to communication could provide a convenient avenue for patients to access genetic counseling.
Although most patients receive genetic counseling in person or through audiovisual telehealth today, other methods could ease access challenges for patients in need of support, said Cari Koerner, a genetic counselor in the cancer center at Greensboro, North Carolina-based Cone Health. Koerner is the first author on a paper published in the Journal of Genetic Counseling this month that analyzed topics discussed by patients in asynchronous, chat-based sessions — an area she says has been understudied.
For their study, Koerner and colleagues analyzed 34 de-identified chat transcripts from DNAvisit, a telehealth company that provides messaging-based genetic counseling. The transcripts comprised conversations between genetic counselors and patients who had received direct-to-consumer genetic test (DTC-GT) results.
The company's chat service, which takes place through a web-based portal, is asynchronous, which means it's not live; genetic counselors have up to two business days to respond to patients' messages.
