TABLE 2: Summary of major findings of the included 44
studies
Authors
Location
Participants
Study design
Main results
Prows and Latta, 1995
United States
28 staff-registered nurses from a childrens hospital medical
center.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design with three-, six- and 12 month follow-ups
Knowledge:
Knowledge significantly increased from pre-test to post-test
scores.
Practice behavior:
Total number of genetic services continuously increased in
three- and six-month follow-ups.
Program assessment:
Comments about the workshop were generally positive.
Although overall positive response, mixed comments about the
preceptorship.
Huang et al., 1997
Taiwan
361 community health nurses and 74 maternal-child nurses.
Age: Median age = 30 years old (range 2047), for community
health nurses and median age = 25 years old (range 2238) for
maternal-child nurses
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional
Knowledge:
Significantly higher scores for community health nurses versus
maternal-child nurses.
Kolb et al., 1999
United States
121 primary healthcare providers from community health clinics
(n = 85 registered nurses, n = 19 physicians, n = 8 vocational
nurses, n = 8 social workers, and n = 1 dietitian).
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores.
Attitudes:
Significantly improved toward providing genetic services from
pre-test to post-test scores.
Gaff et al., 2001
Australia
10 oncology nurses attended a cancer genetics resource training
course.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional with 6-month
follow-up
Skills:
Counseling skills increased.
Practice behavior:
Increased genetics practice behavior (e.g., referring patients
to an appropriate provider and applying new skills in
practice).
Program assessment:
General satisfaction with the course (e.g. content usefulness,
quality of teaching, relevance to work).
Swank et al., 2001
United States
100 registered nurses working at 177 reproductive health centers
completed the baseline study (pre-test). Among them, 65 completed
the post-test survey.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Practicing nurses for 16.9 years on average
(SD = 9.9, range: 135 years) and practicing IVF nurses for 5.8
years on average (SD = 4.7, range: 0.116 years)
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores.
Self-efficacy:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores in
identifying egg donors genetic risks.
Program assessment:
Exceptionally positive comments regarding the education in
various aspects (e.g., content, format, and meeting learning
objectives). Suggestions came from several participants regarding
specific topics and delivery methods for future education.
Masny et al., 2003
United States
164 oncology nurses, who had more than 2 years of experience in
oncology, were recruited by mail and word of mouth in five U.S.
states to attend the familial cancer risk assessment course and
completed a baseline survey. 141 nurses completed a post-test
evaluation for the changes of cancer genetics knowledge. 100 nurses
completed a post-test survey 6 months later for assessing the
nurses role in the cancer risk assessment.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: 11 years (range: 128 years)
Pre/post design with a 6-month follow- up
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores.
Self-efficacy:
Significant increase from pre-test to six-month post-test in
cancer family history taking, risk assessment based on family
history, and follow-up recommendations.
Practice behavior:
Significant increase from pre-test to six-month post-test in
collecting certain family histories and using certain methods to
evaluate patients cancer risk. The number of participants that
utilized the family pattern of cancer (p < .001) and information
from genetic testing information (p 0.01) for communicating cancer
risk also significantly increased.
Blazer et al., 2004
United States
710 community-based clinicians (mainly primary care physicians,
gynecologists, oncologists, gastrointestinal specialists, and other
physicians, nurses, and genetic counselors) attended either 1-hour
seminars or a full-day conference. 69 clinicians completed the
long-term (11-month) follow-up survey.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design with an 11-month follow-up
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores for
physicians, nurses, and genetic counselors.
Practice behavior:
Follow-up survey indicated that overall 1) 77% of participants
used course information and referral guidelines to counsel patients
about risk or to refer patients for further risk assessment and 2)
80% of participants shared the information with other
clinicians.
Program assessment:
General satisfaction with the curriculum (e.g., content,
delivery, and relevance to practice).
Blazer et al., 2005
United States
23 genetic counselors, 14 advanced practitioner nurses, and 3
physicians in clinical genetics practice passed a competitive
selection process to attend the cancer genetics education program.
Attendees filled out the post-course survey 6 months (n = 35) and 1
year (n = 29) after the program.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design with 6-month and one-year follow-up
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores.
Self-efficacy:
One year after the course, participants stated that the
educational experience increased their self-efficacy in cancer
genetics practice (76%) and cancer risk assessment and
recommendation skills (62%).
Practice behavior:
One year after the course, 35 participants were actively
practicing cancer risk assessment and 19 saw more patients for
cancer risk assessments.
Program assessment:
General satisfaction with the course among participants.
Macri et al., 2005
United States
28 obstetrician-gynecologist residents at an urban,
university-based residency program.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores.
Self-efficacy:
Majority of the participants indicated that the training
enhanced their confidence in family history taking, pedigree
drawing, Web-based resource searching, and patient counseling.
Program assessment:
Most participants highly rated the program.
Bodzin, 2005
United States
41 health professionals (52% working in public health
practice/research, 24% healthcare provision, and other fields such
as nursing, education, counseling, and basic sciences) watched the
Module 1 of Six Weeks to Genomics Awareness Web-based training.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Majority (63%) more than 10 years
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional
Knowledge
On a 10-point scale, participants reported about a 7-point
score, indicating that the training enhanced their genomics
knowledge.
Self-efficacy
Majority of the participants did not feel confident enough to
apply knowledge to their practice settings.
Program assessment:
Most participants highly rated the module.
Bell et al., 2007
United States
171 nurses (mainly registered nurses working in an acute care
setting) attended a regional psychiatric conference entitled,
Mental Health Nursing and Genomics. 119 completed both pre- and
immediate post-conference surveys, and 59 filled out a 3-month
follow-up survey.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: More than 9 years
Pre/post design with a 3-month follow-up
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores and
was maintained from the post-test to the follow-up.
Practice behavior:
From the pre-test to follow-up, there was an increase in using
genomics information for self-education (~30% increase), patient
education (10% increase), and education for colleagues (29%
increase).
From the pre-test to the follow-up, there was an increase in
positive response to this statement: the patient population with
whom I work has experienced genetic testing.
Clyman et al., 2007
United States
143 general practitioners (68 physicians and 75 family practice
residents) at the Mid-Hudson Family Health Institute
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores.
Program assessment:
Lectures were perceived as useful, easily understandable, of
good quality, and impacting medical practice by most
participants.
Mrazek et al., 2007
United States
41 physicians (psychiatrists and others), nurses, social
workers, psychologists, researchers, and other mental health
professionals at the Mayo Clinic
Age: Mean = 52.5 years old
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional
Attitudes:
Religion, age, and gender affected
participants attitudes toward clinical
genetic testing (post-test data).
Altshuler et al., 2008
United States
60 pediatric residents at the Maimonides Infants & Childrens
Hospital
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Comfort level:
Significantly increased in genetic clinical skills overall and
in 5 of 12 specific tasks (pre-/post-test analysis).
Program assessment:
Participants reported valuable training experience (i.e., being
relevant to clinical work, containing new information, and
providing fair and valuable feedback, with intention to participate
again).
Bethea et al., 2008
United Kingdom
217 general practitioners and practice nurses from four rural
and urban areas served by 1 hospital-based genetics unit (29
participated in a genetic education outreach program and 188 were
the control group.)
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Quasi-experimental design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores in the
intervention (education) group for breast cancer risk
categorization.
Self-efficacy:
Compared to the control group, the intervention group confidence
was significantly increased in breast and bowel cancer risk
assessment, family history collection, and low-risk patient
reassurance.
Blaine et al., 2008
Canada
93 family physicians at two large Canadian family medicine
(continuing education) conferences
Age: 60% < 44 years old
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: 10 years or more (57%)
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Perceived increases in understanding of genetic testing
(post-test).
Attitudes:
From pre/post-test analysis, significantly positive attitudes
toward: 1) the importance of preparing a patient in advance for
what to expect at a genetic appointment, 2) the purpose of a
referral to genetics is to obtain genetic testing, and 3) the
genetic counselor will decide whether or not the patient undergoes
genetic testing.
Intention:
Increased intention to take thorough family histories among
participants.
Self-efficacy:
Perceived increase in confidence in genetics referral
(post-test).
Program assessment
Positive experience for most participants, and nearly all would
recommend it to their colleagues.
Masny et al., 2008
United States
41 nurses, who intended to provide/actually provided cancer risk
assessments at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, attended a nursing
training program in familial cancer risk counseling.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: cancer risk assessment experience < 1
year: 70%;
cancer risk counselling experience: 2 months5 years
Pre/post design with six-month follow-ups (course evaluation)
and a post-course interview (mentorship evaluation)
Self-efficacy:
Significant improvements in all familial cancer risk assessments
and counseling skills from baseline to six months after the
program.
Comfort level:
Improved comfort level in consulting cases with genetic health
professionals.
Practice behavior:
Increased numbers of nurses who had consulted cases with genetic
nurses and counselors from baseline, three-month, and six-month
post-intervention data.
Program assessment:
Positive comments for the mentorship, but there were differences
in experiences regarding mentorship between nurses who had less
than one year of cancer risk assessment/counseling experience and
those with more than one year of experience.
Carroll et al., 2009
Canada
29 primary care providers who attended a full-day workshop.
Program evaluation was based on 21 attendees who completed baseline
and follow-up questionnaires (14 family physicians, 6 nurses/nurse
practitioners, and one other).
Age: Mean = 46 years old for 21 attendees
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: 1019 years (62%), > 20 years (29%)
Pre/post design with a 6-month follow-up
Knowledge:
Significant increase in adult-onset genetic disorders
(self-rated knowledge) and colorectal cancer genetic knowledge
(objective knowledge test) (pre-test and follow-up data
comparison).
Attitudes:
Significant increase in agreements regarding the statement
genetic testing is beneficial in the management of adult-onset
genetic diseases (pre-test and follow-up data comparison).
Intention:
Intention to improve family history taking (71%).
Self-efficacy:
Significantly improved in confidence in clinical practice
related to adult-onset genetic disorders and several specific tasks
related to genetic risk assessment, genetic testing, and counseling
(pre-test and follow-up data comparison).
Significantly improved in confidence in acting as a resource
person in adult-onset genetic disorders for their colleagues.
(Pre-test and follow-up data comparison)
Program assessment:
Workshop rated as effective and relevant to practice by most
participants.
Laberge et al., 2009
United States
79 primary care physicians (e.g., family physicians,
pediatricians, internists, obstetricians, gynecologists, and
internal medicine specialists) and 21 genetic professionals (i.e.,
clinical geneticists and genetic counselors) from 20 teaching
medical universities (evaluation data were based on 19
universities)
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional (follow-up
evaluation after three years of completing the training)
Practice behavior:
86% of primary care physician participants reported more
clinical genetic practice.
Program assessment:
Overall positive comments from both primary care physicians and
genetic professional participants regarding the program, and they
would recommend it to their colleagues. However, participants
identified several challenges in real practice.
Antoun et al., 2010
Lebanon
168 Lebanese and Arab primary care practitioners with
specialties in family medicine, internal medicine, and general
practice, among others, attended a symposium entitled "Genetics for
Primary Care Physicians. Further, 128 practitioners completed the
first survey regarding demographic information and practice in
genetic testing and counseling before the symposium, and 48
completed an evaluation survey after the symposium.
Age: Mean = 41 years old for the 128 who completed the first
survey
Race/Ethnicity: Most were Lebanese for the 128 who completed the
first survey.
Years of practice: Not reported
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional $
Intention:
Participants expressed willingness to start or refer patients
for genetic testing and counseling (post-test data).
Pestka et al., 2010
Singapore
85 nurses from Singapore Health Services attended the semester
and 76 completed the evaluation survey after the semester
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: > 9 years (65%)
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional
Knowledge:
Of the ten genomic assessment and intervention items from a case
study, 5.8 items on average were checked.
Pestka et al., 2010
United States
160 psychiatric nurses at a large medical center (who might have
participated in previous genomic education activities) attended a
genomic staff development session and 65 completed a survey after
the session.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: > 6 years nursing experience (68%) and
psychiatric nursing experience (63%)
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional
Knowledge:
Of the ten genomic assessment and intervention checklist items
from a case study, 5.5 items on average were checked.
Zembles, 2010
United States
50 pharmacists, residents, students, and interns at the
Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin attended an in-service program and
40 completed the program evaluation survey.c.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional with a 6-month
follow-up
Knowledge:
All participants reported an increase in knowledge (post-test,
subjective knowledge).
Overall, all participants answered
correctly in knowledge questions (6-month follow-up, objective
knowledge).
Program assessment:
General satisfaction with the program (e.g., clear and
understandable content and useful for practice).
Blazer et al., 2011
United States
131 participants (48 physicians, 41 advanced-practice nurses,
and 42 genetic counselors) attended genetics cancer risk assessment
training, and 57 completed post-course surveys.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: White (81.7%), Hispanic (11.5%), Black (7.6%),
Asian (6.1%), and American Indian/Alaska Native (0.8%)
Years of practice: > 10 years (58%)
Pre/post design with a 14-month post-course follow-up
Knowledge
Overall, significantly increased from pre-test (baseline) to
post-Phase II test scores, and varied according to discipline.
Skills:
Overall, significantly increased from pre-test to post-Phase II
test scores, and varied according to discipline.
Self-efficacy:
Overall, significantly increased from pre-test to post-Phase II
test scores, and the scores were maintained 14 months after the
baseline.
Practice behavior:
Overall, significantly increased from pre-test to post-Phase III
test scores in cancer genetics-related practice.
Carroll et al., 2011
Canada
Using stratified sampling, 125 family physicians (61 in the
intervention group and 64 in the control group) were recruited from
two urban and rural areas. Among them, 80 completed both the
pre-and post-intervention surveys (47 in the intervention group and
33 in the control group).
Age: Intervention group: 48 years old (range: 4069 years old)
and control group: 46 years old (range: 3160 years old)
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Intervention group: 18 years (range: 440
years) and control group: 16 years (range: 231 years)
Experimental design (randomized control trial with pre-test data
collected 1 month before the intervention and post-test data
collected 6 months after the intervention)
Knowledge:
Higher referral decision score in the intervention group
compared to the control group.
Self-efficacy:
Significantly increased confidence in adopting all genetic
competencies into practice in the intervention group than control
group.
Program assessment:
General satisfaction with the program, and participants would
recommend it to their colleagues.
Srinivasan et al., 2011
United States
279 residents in pediatrics, internal medicine and family
medicine from three university hospitals were enrolled, and 210
residents finished the training
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Self-efficacy:
Moderate at baseline, but significantly increased (by 15%) after
the training
Practice behavior:
Significantly increased utilization of what participants learned
about ELSI perspectives in a patient care setting.
Program assessment:
Most participants were satisfied with the training and would
likely to recommend it to other residents.
Wallen et al., 2011
United States
129 healthcare professionals (i.e., nurses, dieticians, social
workers, and lab technicians) attended a basic genetics education
program for healthcare providers that was developed by the National
Institutes of Health, and 69 attendees completed the post-test
assessment.
Age: > 50 years (35%), 4150 years old (33%), 3140 years old
(20%), and 2030 years old (12%)
Race/Ethnicity: White (81%), African American (5%), Latino (4%),
and Asian Pacific Islander (7%)
Years of practice: > 20 years (47%), 1620 years (17%), 610
years (12%), < 1 year (9%), 1115 years (8%), 15 years (6%)
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased in total scores for participants.
However, the individual knowledge scores in specific content areas,
such as labeling a pedigree, probability calculation, risk
identification, assessing genetic resources, and ELSI of genetic
testing in minors were unchanged.
Program assessment:
Participants reported that the program was effective in access,
convenience, course structure, and design.
Blazer et al., 2012
United States
96 community-based clinicians with previous experience and
training in clinical oncology or genetics, including physicians,
advanced practice nurses, and genetic counselorsthe cohort in 2009
was used as a comparison group (n = 44), and the cohort in 2010 was
formed as an intervention group (n = 52).
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Intervention group: White (73.1%), Black (7.7%),
and Asian (19.2%) in the race category, and Latino (9.6%) in the
ethnicity category. Comparison group: White (81.8%), Black (6.8%),
and Asian (2.7%) in the race category and Latinos (13.6%) in the
ethnicity category.
Years of practice: Intervention group: > 10 years (48.1%), 15
years (28.8%), 610 years (21.2%), and < 1 year (1.9%).
Comparison group: > 10 years (59.1%), 15 years (22.7%), 610
years (13.6%) and < 1 year (4.5%)
Quasi-experimental design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from the pre-test to the post-test in
both the intervention and control groups.
Significantly greater increase in the intervention group than in
the comparison group.
Skills:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores in
both the intervention and control groups.
Self-efficacy:
Significantly increased from the pre-test to the post-test in
both the intervention and control groups.
Burke et al., 2012
United Kingdom
70 hemophilia nurses attended a genetics workshop at a
professional conference, and 47 completed the evaluation
assessment.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity/Race: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Intention
Some participants reported that they would adopt what they had
learned to change their practice, such as taking more family
histories and drawing pedigrees.
Self-efficacy
Significantly increased in family history taking, pedigree
drawing, genetic risk assessment, and identifying and accessing
genetic resources.
Program assessment:
Majority of participants stated that the workshop was relevant
to their practice.
Roter et al., 2012
United States
40 physician assistants attended a professional conference (18
in the intervention group and 22 in the control group).
Age: 41 years old (range: 2657 years old) for all
participants
Race/Ethnicity: Mostly White (75%)
Years of practice: 11.6 years on average
Experimental design (randomized control trial)
Skills:
Significantly lower patient-centered communication style in
topics such as lifestyle and psychosocial issues in the
intervention group than in the control group.
Significantly more comprehensive and detailed family history and
cancer history collection in the intervention group than in the
control group.
Chen et al., 2013
United States
207 Texas health educators who were either Certified Health
Education Specialists or Master Certified Health Education
Specialists enrolled in the Web-based genomics training program.
173 completed the training, and 137 completed the 3-month follow-up
training assessment.
Age: 35 years old (SD = 9.9) for 173 health educators
participating in the training
Race/Ethnicity: White (59%), Hispanic/Latino (19.7%), Black
(16.2%), Asian (4.6%), and Native American (0.6%) for 173 health
educators participating in the training
Years of practice: 7.5 years (SD = 6.9) for 173 health educators
participating the training
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased in genetic knowledge from pre-test to
post-test scores. The knowledge score decreased in the follow-up
survey, but remained significantly higher than the baseline.
Intention:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores. The
intention score decreased in the follow-up survey, but remained
significantly higher than the baseline.
Self-efficacy:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores. The
self-efficacy scores decreased in the follow-up survey, but
remained significantly higher than the baseline.
Practice behavior:
Significantly increased in family health history practice from
the pre-test to the 3-month follow-up.
Program Assessment:
Majority of participants who found the training helpful in
understanding family health history were satisfied/very satisfied
with the training, and were willing/very willing to recommend this
training to their colleagues.
Kulatunga et al., 2013
Sri Lanka
10 doctors participated in a Web-based continuing professional
development program on medical genetics
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores.
Program Assessment:
The majority of participants (78%) rated the quality of the
program as average, very good, or excellent.
Kuo et al., 2013
United States
673 practicing pharmacists attended national, state, and local
pharmacy meetings.
Age: 45 years old ( 14 years)
Race/Ethnicity: White (75.3%), Asian (13.4%), Black (2.7%),
Native Hawaiian (0.6%), and Native Indian (0.3%) in the race
category, and Non-Hispanic (88.1%) and Hispanic (4.2%) in the
ethnicity category.
Years of practice: 19 years ( 13 years)
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores.
Self-efficacy:
Self-reported ability to explain pharmacogenomics testing to
clients significantly increased from the pre-test to the
post-test.
Program Assessment:
Majority of the participants rated the quality of the program as
good or useful.
Formea et al., 2013
United States
84 pharmacists attended Web-based and in-person pharmacogenomics
continuing education and completed both pre-test and post-test
surveys
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: < 1 year (7.2%), 15 years (38.6%), 610
years (19.3%), 1120 years (19.3%), 2130 years (8.4%) and > 30
years (7.2%)
Pre-/post-test design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores.
Program Assessment:
The majority of participants agreed that this educational
program helped increase their pharmacogenomics knowledge.
Houwink et al., 2013
The Netherlands
80 general practitioners were randomized into either
intervention or control groups (40 for each group). 20 general
practitioners in the intervention group and 24 in the control group
completed the protocols in this study and were included in the
final analysis.
Age: 3039 years old (intervention: 50%, control: 54.2%), 4049
years old (intervention: 25%, control: 29.2%), 5059 years old
(intervention: 25%, control: 12.5%), and 6069 years old
(intervention: 0%, control: 4.2%)
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: < 10 years (intervention: 60.0%, control:
54.2%), 1019 years (intervention: 20.0%, control: 29.2%). 2029
years (intervention: 5.0%, control: 12.5%), and 3039 years
(intervention: 15.0%, control: 4.2%)
Experimental design (randomized control trial with a 6-month
follow-up)
Knowledge:
Significantly greater increase in the intervention group than in
the control group.
Program Assessment:
Both the intervention and control groups were generally
satisfied with the training module and found newly gained knowledge
to be clinically applicable.
Houwink et al., 2014
The Netherlands
88 general practitioners were randomized into the intervention
or control groups (46 for the intervention group and 42 for the
control group). 38 general practitioners in the intervention group
and 18 in the control group completed the protocols in this study
and were included in the final analysis.
Age: 3039 years old (intervention: 36.8%, control: 16.7%) 4049
years old (intervention: 15.8%, control: 27.8%), 5059 years old
(intervention: 31.6%, control: 38.9%), 6069 years old
(intervention: 10.5%, control: 11.1%), and unknown (intervention:
5.3%, control: 5.6%)
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: < 10 years (intervention: 23.7%, control:
22.2%), 1019 years (intervention: 18.4%, control: 16.7%), 2029
years (intervention: 15.8%, control: 38.9%), 3039 years
(intervention: 5.3%, control: 0%), 4049 years (intervention: 2.6%,
control: 0%), and unknown (intervention: 34.2%, control: 22.2%)
Experimental design (randomized control trial with a 3-month
follow-up)
Skills:
Significant increase in oncogenetics consultation skills from
the pre-test to the post-test.
Program Assessment:
The intervention group was satisfied overall with the training
workshop and reported that the training had a high clinical
applicability.
Christensen et al., 2015
United States
20 physicians (11 primary care physicians and 9 cardiologists)
attended genomics education training.
Age: Mean age = 51.7 years old (range: 3265 years old)
Race/Ethnicity: White (75%), Asian (20%), Black (5%)
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Self-efficacy
Primary care practitioners were more likely to improve their
self-efficacy compared to cardiologists.
Program Assessment:
Nearly all participants felt the education program was useful
and beneficial.
Houwink et al., 2015
The Netherlands
42 general practitioners participated in an online continuing
professional development module (intervention group), and 50
general practitioners attended a live training module (control
group).
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Experimental design (randomized control trial with a 1-year
follow up)
Knowledge:
Significantly more awareness about genetic issues in the control
group than in the intervention group at the 1-year follow-up.
Practice behavior:
The control group reported more genetic referrals for referring
patients to clinical genetic centers at the 1-year follow up.
Michelazzo et al., 2015
Italy
142 health professionals specializing in genetics and genetic
laboratories, public health/healthcare system management, primary
care, oncology, gynecology, and neurology received
distance-learning training in genetics and genomics testing.
Age: 50 years old (33.1%) and > 50 years old (66.9%)
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Knowledge:
Significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores for
participants, except for the geneticists and genetic laboratory
specialists.
Reed et al., 2015
United States
33 physicians and one physician assistant attended a genomics
education course.
Age: 3140 years old (8.8%), 4150 years old (26.5%), 5160 years
old (17.6%), 6170 years old (44.1%) and > 71 years old
(2.9%)
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: 110 years (8.8%), 1120 years (26.5%), 2130
years (32.4%), 31 years (32.4%)
Pre/post design with a 6-month follow-up
Knowledge:
Significantly increased in genetic from pre-test to post-test
scores and was maintained at the 6-month follow-up.
Self-efficacy:
Among 10 practice skills related to confidence, eight
significantly increased from pre-test to post-test scores, and five
continually increased significantly during the 6-month
follow-up.
Practice behavior:
The majority of participants changed their genetics practice
skills based on what they learned from the program.
Kisor et al., 2015
United States
20 pharmacists participated in a pharmacogenomics certification
training program. Among them, 19 pharmacists completed the pre-test
survey and 16 filled out the post-test survey.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Self-efficacy:
Participating pharmacists saw significant increases in
self-reported competence in pharmacogenomics.
Haspel et al., 2016
United States
86 pathology residents from 61 pathology residency programs
(most were U.S. programs) participated in a one-day, team-based
learning genomic pathology workshop at 3 national conferences in
the U.S.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional
Program Assessment:
The majority of the participants were satisfied with the
workshop and would recommend it to their colleagues.
Nguyen et al., 2016
United States
279 trainees in first-year categorical pediatrics, first-year
child neurology, and fourth-year combined-medicine pediatrics (31
trainees per year for nine years) attended a medical genetics
rotation in the pediatric residency program at the University of
Texas Medical School at Houston. The trainees included genetic
counseling students; maternal-fetal medicine, molecular genetic
pathology, and pediatric endocrinology fellows; and residents of
medical genetics and pediatrics-medical genetics.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
One-shot case study/descriptive cross-sectional
Knowledge:
Participants overall felt knowledgeable in clinical practice
related to pediatrics.
Self-efficacy
Participants overall felt confident in clinical practice related
to pediatrics.
Luzum et al., 2016
United States
12 physicians (i.e., residents, fellows, and attendees)
participated in pharmacogenetics training and completed both
pre-test and post-test surveys.
Age: Not reported
Race/Ethnicity: Not reported
Years of practice: Not reported
Pre/post design
Attitudes
Significantly more positive attitudes in four of eight attitude
questions from pre-test to post-test score.
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