title: A practical account of autonomy: why genetic counseling is especially well suited to the facilitation of informed autonomous decision making.
abstract: In genetic counseling, facilitation of autonomous decision-making is seen as a primary aim and respect for autonomy is used to justify a nondirective counseling approach whereby clients are free to make their own choices after being given all necessary information. However in the genetic counseling literature, autonomy as a concept appears to be interpreted variably and often narrowly. We offer a practical account of autonomy that is coherent, consistent and philosophically defensible for the genetic counseling setting. At the same time we demonstrate how nondirective counseling may serve to frustrate rather than facilitate client autonomy. We suggest that promoting purposeful dialogue rather than counseling that is nondirective is more conducive to client autonomy.
authors.affiliation: Genetic Education, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Rd, Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia. jan.hodgson@mcri.edu.au
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hodgson
authors.forename: Merle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spriggs
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D004314:Down Syndrome; D005260:Female; D005817:Genetic Counseling; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011247:Pregnancy