Skip to main content
Log in

Iona College Community Centered Family Health History Project: Lessons Learned from Student Focus Groups

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Journal of Genetic Counseling

Abstract

The Community Centered Family Health History project was initiated to create accessible family health history tools produced by and for the community. The project goal was to promote increased community engagement in health education by encouraging conversations among family members that would translate knowledge of family health history into healthy lifestyle choices. As one of seven community partners, Iona College participated in customizing and beta-testing the Does It Run in the Family? toolkit. Twenty-nine college students were engaged to recruit three relatives related by blood to provide feedback on the utility of the toolkit. The toolkit consists of two booklets—“A Guide to Family Health History” and “A Guide to Understanding Genetics and Health”—explaining the importance of knowing and talking about health within the family as well as basics about how conditions are passed down through generations. Twenty-two of the twenty-nine students participated in focus groups to discuss their reactions to participation in the project. Students in the focus group reported that the study participants—students and their family members—found the toolkit to be user friendly and the experience a valuable one that prompted many to take positive steps toward good health.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahluwalia, I. B., Mack, K. A., Murphy, W., Mokdad, A. H., & Bales, V. S. (2003). State-specific prevalence of selected chronic disease-related characteristics–Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2001. MMWR Surveillance Summary, 52, 1–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Awareness of family health history as a risk factor for disease—United States (2004). MMWR, Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report, 53, 044-7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beery, T. A., & Shooner, K. A. (2004). Family history: the first genetic screen. Nurse Practitioner, 29, 14–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, R. L. (1999). The practical guide to the genetic family history. New York: Wiley-Liss.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Berg, A. O., Baird, M. A., Botkin, J. R., Driscoll, D. A., Fishman, P. A., Guarino, P. D., et al. (2009). National institutes of health state-of-the-science conference statement: family history and improving health. Annals of Internal Medicine, 151, 872–877.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • College, I. (2008). Mission statement. NY: New Rochelle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C. S., Giovannucci, E. L., Colditz, G. A., Hunter, D. J., Speizer, F. E., & Willett, W. C. (1994). A prospective study of family history and the risk of colorectal cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 331, 1669–1674.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Guttmacher, A. E., Collins, F. S., & Carmona, R. H. (2004). The family history-more important than ever. New England Journal of Medicine, 351, 2333–2336.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Iona College Social Work Department. (2008). Social work quinquennial report. NY: New Rochelle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, J., Giles, R. T., Larsen, L., Ware, J., Adams, T., & Hunt, S. C. (2005). Utah’s Family High Risk Program: bridging the gap between genomics and public health. Preventing Chronic Disease, 2, A 24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendler, K. S., Davis, C. G., & Kessler, R. C. (1997). The familial aggregation of common psychiatric and substance use disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey: a family history study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 541–548.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCusker, M. E., Yoon, P., Gwinn, M., Malarcher, A. M., Neff, L., & Koury, M. J. (2004). Family history of heart disease and cardiovascular disease risk-reducing behaviors. Genetics Medicine, 6, 153–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, M., & Jorgensen, C. (2005). Direct-to-consumer marketing campaign: genetic testing for susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer. Genomics and Population Health 2005. http://www.cdc.gov/genomics/about/reports/2005/chap04.htm. Accessed on 25 August 2010.

  • Naldi, L., Parazzini, F., Brevi, A., Peserico, A., Veller Fornasa, C., Grosso, G., et al. (2006). Family history, smoking habits, alcohol consumption and risk of psoriasis. British Journal of Dermatology, 127, 212–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Leary, J., Edelson, V., Gardner, N., Gepp, A., Kyler, P., Moore, P., et al. (2011). Community centered family health history: a customized approach to increased health communication and awareness. Progress in Community Health Partnerships. (in press).

  • Petruccio, C., Mills Shaw, K. R., Boughman, J., Fernandez, C., Harlow, I., Kruesi, M., et al. (2008). Healthy choices through family history: a community approach to family history awareness. Community Genetics, 11, 343–351.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rich, E. C., Burke, W., Heaton, C. J., Haga, S., Pinsky, L., Short, M. P., et al. (2004). Reconsidering the family history in primary care. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 19, 273–280.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, R. R., Hunt, S. C., Heiss, G., Province, M. A., Bensen, J. T., Higgins, M., et al. (2001). Usefulness of cardiovascular family history data for population-based preventive medicine and medical research (the Health Family Tree Study and the NHLBI Family Heart Study). American Journal of Cardiology, 87, 129–135.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wolpert, C. M., & Speer, M. C. (2005). Harnessing the power of the pedigree. Journal of Midwifery Women’s Health, 50, 189–196.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yoon, P. W., Scheuner, M. T., Peterson-Oehlke, K. L., Gwinn, M., Faucett, A., & Khoury, M. J. (2002). Can family history be used as a tool for public health and preventive medicine? Genetic Medicine, 4, 304–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by cooperative agreement U33 MC06836, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Genetic Services Branch.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Penelope J. Moore.

Appendix 1: Focus group discussion questions

Appendix 1: Focus group discussion questions

  1. 1.

    Why did you participate in this study?

  2. 2.

    What was the nature of your experience with your family in discussing the project? (face-to-face, phone, e-mail)

  3. 3.

    How much time did you spend on the project?

  4. 4.

    How many family members were involved?

  5. 5.

    How has your relationship with your family changed (positively, negatively)?

  6. 6.

    What was it like for you to recruit family members for the project?

  7. 7.

    In what way did participating in the project influence your thinking about family health history?

  8. 8.

    Was there information they found difficult to share?

  9. 9.

    Was there information you found difficult to share?

  10. 10.

    Are there modifications to the booklets or the process that would make it easier for your family members to share information (positive, negative)?

  11. 11.

    What was the best thing about participating in the project for you?

  12. 12.

    What was the worst thing about participating in the project for you?

  13. 13.

    In what way has the project had an impact on your professional course of study?

  14. 14.

    What educational lessons have you learned about family health history information?

  15. 15.

    What educational lessons have you learned about dissemination of family health history?

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Moore, P.J., Gratzer, W., Lieber, C. et al. Iona College Community Centered Family Health History Project: Lessons Learned from Student Focus Groups. J Genet Counsel 21, 127–135 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-011-9392-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-011-9392-7

Keywords

Navigation