Evaluation of an online communication skills training programme for oncology nurses working with patients from minority backgrounds.

Objective: This study aimed to develop and assess the feasibility of an online communication skills training intervention to increase cultural competence amongst oncology nurses working with individuals from minority backgrounds.

Methods: The intervention provided examples of communication strategies using vignette-based, professionally produced videos, developed through an iterative process with input from a large multidisciplinary team. Fifty-three oncology nurses completed all three questionnaires at baseline, within 2 weeks and then 3 months after accessing the programme.

Communicating with patients from minority backgrounds: Individual challenges experienced by oncology health professionals.

Purpose: Oncology health professionals (HPs) are increasingly required to care for patients from minority backgrounds. Yet many HPs have not had formal training in how to communicate effectively in culturally diverse settings. More information is needed about the challenges that oncology HPs face in communicating with minority patients to inform the content of formal training programs.

Perceptions of melanoma risk among Australian adolescents: barriers to sun protection and recommendations for improvement.

Objectives: To explore adolescents' perceptions of melanoma risk, sun protection intervention preferences and perceived barriers to sun protection recommendations.

Methods: Semi-structured focus groups were held in school classes, stratified by location (coastal, inland) and sector (public, private); discussions were transcribed verbatim and data were analysed using NVivo8 software.

Results: 100 students (mean age=14.

Supporting patients with low health literacy: what role do radiation therapists play?

Purpose: Health literacy plays a key role in a patient's ability to use health information and services, and can affect health outcomes. This study aimed to explore radiation therapists' perspectives on how they support people with lower health literacy who are undergoing radiotherapy.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 radiation therapists working in radiation oncology departments in New South Wales, Australia.

To know or not to know: an update of the literature on the psychological and behavioral impact of genetic testing for Alzheimer disease risk.

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a genetically heterogenous disorder; in rare cases autosomal dominantly inherited mutations typically cause early-onset familial AD (EOAD), whereas the risk for late-onset AD (LOAD) is generally modulated by genetic variants with relatively low penetrance but high prevalence, with variants in apolipoprotein E (APOE) being a firmly established risk factor. This article presents an overview of the current literature on the psychological and behavioral impact of genetic testing for AD. The few studies available for presymptomatic testing for EOAD showed that only a very small proportion of individuals had poor psychological outcomes as a result.

Getting to the point: what women newly diagnosed with breast cancer want to know about treatment-focused genetic testing.

Purpose/objectives: To identify young women's information preferences regarding treatment-focused genetic testing (TFGT) and to develop and evaluate a novel educational resource.

Research Approach: Qualitative interview study and pilot testing of a novel resource.

Setting: Two familial cancer services and one outpatient oncology clinic in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

Are videoconferenced consultations as effective as face-to-face consultations for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer genetic counseling?

Purpose: Videoconferencing is increasingly used to deliver family cancer services for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer to outreach areas. This study compared the effectiveness and acceptability of genetic counseling for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer through videoconferencing (hereafter referred to as "telegenetics").

Methods: One hundred six women seen by telegenetics and 89 women seen face-to-face completed self-administered questionnaires before, and 1 month after, genetic counseling.

Women's experience of telehealth cancer genetic counseling.

Telegenetics offers an alternative model of delivering genetic counseling to rural and outreach areas; however there is a dearth of qualitative research into the patient's experience. Twelve women who had received telemedicine genetic counseling for hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancer (HBOC) within the previous 12 months participated in a semi-structured telephone interview. The interview explored women's experience with telegenetics, satisfaction, perceived advantages and disadvantages and quality of the interaction with their genetic professionals.

The virtual consultation: practitioners' experiences of genetic counseling by videoconferencing in Australia.

Objective: Videoconferencing for clinical genetics services, or telegenetics, is becoming an increasingly utilized method of delivering genetic counseling to rural areas; however, there has been little qualitative exploration of the practitioner's experience, particularly for hereditary breast/ovarian cancer counseling.

Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with genetic practitioners (n=15) delivering telegenetics services in New South Wales, Australia. Interviews explored experiences, perceived aims of the service, satisfaction, and the advantages and disadvantages of the technology.

A balancing act--telehealth cancer genetics and practitioners' experiences of a triadic consultation.

Telehealth is increasingly used for outreach service in cancer genetic counseling; however what occurs during the consultation and the roles practitioners adopt is largely unknown. Fifteen practitioners participated in semi-structured interviews that explored their roles within telehealth, compared to face-to-face consultations, and the relationship between practitioners during telehealth. As they were not physically present with the patient, most participants felt that telehealth altered the genetic clinician's role to one of a 'visiting specialist'.