Genetic counseling/consultation in South-East Asia: a report from the workshop at the 10th Asia pacific conference on human genetics.
This paper reports on the workshop 'Genetic Counseling/Consultations in South-East Asia' at the 10(th) Asia Pacific Conference on Human Genetics in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in December 2012. The workshop brought together professionals and language/communication scholars from South-East Asia, and the UK. The workshop aimed at addressing culture- and context-specific genetic counseling/consultation practices in South-East Asia. As a way of contextualizing genetic counseling/consultation in South-East Asia, we first offer an overview of communication-oriented research generally, drawing attention to consultation and counseling as part of a communicative continuum with distinctive interactional features. We then provide examples of genetic counseling/consultation research in Hong Kong. As other countries in South-East Asia have not yet embarked on communication-oriented empirical research, we report on the current practices of genetic counseling/consultation in these countries in order to identify similarities and differences as well as key obstacles that could be addressed through future research. Three issues emerged as 'problematic': language, religion and culture. We suggest that communication-oriented research can provide a starting point for evidence-based reflections on how to incorporate a counseling mentality in genetic consultation. To conclude, we discuss the need for creating a platform for targeted training of genetic counselors based on communication-oriented research findings.
School of English, The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Arts, Centennial Campus, the University of Hong Kong, Room 738, 7/F, Run Run Shaw Tower (Building B, Arts) Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China, zayts@hkucc.hku.hk.
Olga
O
Zayts
Srikant
S
Sarangi
Meow-Keong
MK
Thong
Brian Hon-yin
BH
Chung
Ivan Fao-man
IF
Lo
Anita Sik-yau
AS
Kan
Juliana Mei-har
JM
Lee
Carmencita David
CD
Padilla
Eva Maria
EM
Cutiongco-de la Paz
Sultana M H
SM
Faradz
Pornswan
P
Wasant
D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D005817:Genetic Counseling; D005826:Genetics, Medical; D006801:Humans