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Is the psychological impact of genetic testing moderated by support and sharing of test results to family and friends?

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Abstract

Receiving the results of genetic tests for a breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility can be a stressful experience. Here we studied the effects of social support (SS) and the sharing of test results on the psychological impact of BRCA1/2 test result disclosure. We also compared carriers and non-carriers on sharing, SS and psychological impact. Five-hundred and twenty-two unaffected women were followed prospectively for 2 years after receiving their test results. Psychological impact was measured on the impact of event scale. Multivariate multi-level models were used, and all the analyses were stratified depending on mutation status (carriers vs non-carriers). Two weeks after receiving their BRCA1/2 results, carriers had shared their test results less frequently than non-carriers (p < 0.01). Sharing test results was not significantly associated with psychological impact. Availability of SS was significantly associated with better psychological adjustment across time among carriers (p < 0.01), but not among non-carriers. For female BRCA1/2 mutation carriers, the importance of SS should be stressed, and possible ways of enlisting people in their entourage for this purpose should be discussed in the context of clinical encounters.

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Acknowledgments

Julie Lapointe is a CIHR Fellow in Psychosocial Oncology Research and Training (PORT), was funded through a CIHR Training Grant (No. TGF-63285), a Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements—Canada Graduate Scholarships A Tri-Agency (SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR) Program and the Fonds d’enseignement et de recherche de la Faculté de pharmacie de l’Université Laval. The study project was funded by the Institut National du Cancer (INCA—Grant R11108AA). We would like to thank the statisticians associated with this project for their help and supervision of the analyses, Anne-Deborah Bouhnik and Simon Olivier Fournier.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

This study has been approved by the appropriate ethics committee and has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Laval, 1050, avenue de la Médecine, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Julie Lapointe & Michel Dorval

  2. URESP, Centre de Recherche FRSQ du Centre Hospitalier Affilié Universitaire de Québec, 1050, chemin Ste-Foy, Quebec, QC, G1S 4L8, Canada

    Julie Lapointe & Michel Dorval

  3. Centre des Maladies du sein Deschênes-Fabia, Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement, 1050, chemin Ste-Foy, Quebec, QC, G1S 4L8, Canada

    Michel Dorval

  4. Centre René Huguenin, 35, rue Dailly, 92210, Saint-Cloud, France

    Catherine Noguès

  5. Institut Curie, 26, rue d’Ulm, 75005, Paris, France

    Catherine Noguès

  6. Inserm, U912, Marseille, France

    Roxane Fabre & Claire Julian-Reynier

  7. Aix-Marseille Université, U912, Marseille, France

    Roxane Fabre & Claire Julian-Reynier

  8. IRD, U912, Marseille, France

    Roxane Fabre & Claire Julian-Reynier

  9. Institut Paoli-Calmettes, 232 Boulevard Sainte Marguerite, BP 156, 13273, Marseille Cedex 9, France

    Claire Julian-Reynier

Authors
  1. Julie Lapointe
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  2. Michel Dorval
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  3. Catherine Noguès
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Consortia

GENEPSO Cohort

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claire Julian-Reynier.

Additional information

The members of the GENEPSO Cohort study is given in “Appendix”.

Appendix

Appendix

Investigators and clinicians members of the GENEPSO Cohort study:

  • Hélène Cannoni-Zattara: CHU de la Timone, Marseille;

  • Olivier Caron: Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif;

  • Hélène Dreyfus: Clinique Sainte Catherine, Avignon;

  • Thierry Frebourg: CHU Charles Nicolle, Rouen;

  • Marc Frenay: Centre Antoine Lacassagne, Nice;

  • Jean-Pierre Fricker: Centre Paul Strauss, Strasbourg;

  • Paul Gesta: CHR Georges Renon, Niort;

  • Rosine Guimbaud: Institut Claudius Regaud, Toulouse;

  • Elisabeth Luporsi: Centre Alexis Vautrin, Vandoeuvre les Nancy;

  • Nguyen Tan Dat: Institut Jean Godinot, Reims;

  • Hagay Sobol: Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille;

  • Laurence Venat-Bouvet: CHU Dupuytren, Limoges;

  • Philippe Vennin: Centre Oscar Lambret, Lille;

  • Pascaline Berthet, Centre François Baclesse, Caen;

  • Marion Gauthier-Villars, Institut Curie, Paris;

  • Christine Lasset, Centre Léon Bérard, Lyon;

  • François Eisinger, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille;

  • Irwin Piot, Centre René Huguenin, Saint-Cloud, France and Institut Curie, Paris, France;

  • Emmanuelle Mouret-Fourme, Centre René Huguenin, Saint-Cloud, France and Institut Curie, Paris, France;

  • Dominique Stoppa-Lyonnet, Institut Curie, Paris;

  • Michel Longy, Institut Bergonié, Bordeaux;

  • Laurence Gladieff, Institut Claudius Regaud, Toulouse;

  • Laurence Faivre, Hôpital d’enfants, Dijon;

  • Catherine Dugast, Centre Eugene Marquis, Reims;

  • Liliane Demange, Polyclinique de Courlancy, Reims;

  • Isabelle Coupier,CHU Montpellier, Montpellier;

  • Odile Cohen-Haguenauer, Hôpital St Louis, Paris;

  • Annie Chevrier, Centre Henri Becquerel, Rouen;

  • Valérie Bonadona, Centre Léon Bérard, Lyon;

  • Yves-Jean Bignon, Centre Jean Perrin, Clermont Ferrand;

  • Claude Adenis, Centre Oscar Lambret, Lille;

  • Pascaline Berthet, Centre Francçois Baclesse, Caen.

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Lapointe, J., Dorval, M., Noguès, C. et al. Is the psychological impact of genetic testing moderated by support and sharing of test results to family and friends?. Familial Cancer 12, 601–610 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10689-013-9621-3

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