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The Relationship of Nondirectiveness to Genetic Counseling: Report of a Workshop at the 2003 NSGC Annual Education Conference

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Journal of Genetic Counseling

Nondirectiveness has been a guiding principle for genetic counseling since the founding of the profession. However, its efficacy and appropriateness in this role have been frequently questioned. A workshop at the 2003 Annual Education Conference of the National Society of Genetic Counselors provided audience participation in a discussion of these issues. Participants presented arguments for and against nondirectiveness as a central ethos. They described complex personal transitions in adapting what they had learned about nondirectiveness during training to the realities of the workplace. There was support for flexible approaches to genetic counseling, with varying adherence to nondirectiveness, based on client and family needs and values, clinical circumstances, and desired counseling outcomes. The discussion supports the use of clinical experience, outcomes research, and the experience of other professions to move beyond nondirectiveness and more accurately identify the theoretical bases that underlie genetic counseling in the variety of circumstances in which it is currently practiced.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Elizabeth Alexander and Elizabeth Detwiler for transcribing the authors’ introductory comments and the public discussion of the EBS. We also thank all those who attended and participated in the EBS and who communicated via e-mail.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, California, U.S.

    Jon Weil

  2. Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

    Kelly Ormond

  3. Clinical Genetics Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Rockville, Maryland, U.S.

    June Peters

  4. Center for Developmental and Health Genetics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, U.S.

    Kathryn Peters

  5. Medical Genetics Branch, NHGRI/NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.

    Barbara Bowles Biesecker

  6. Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development and the Institute of Human Genetics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.

    Bonnie LeRoy

  7. 2015 Mira Vista Drive, El Cerrito, California, 94530, U.S.

    Jon Weil

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  1. Jon Weil
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  2. Kelly Ormond
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  3. June Peters
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  4. Kathryn Peters
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  5. Barbara Bowles Biesecker
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  6. Bonnie LeRoy
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Correspondence to Jon Weil.

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Weil, J., Ormond, K., Peters, J. et al. The Relationship of Nondirectiveness to Genetic Counseling: Report of a Workshop at the 2003 NSGC Annual Education Conference. J Genet Counsel 15, 85–93 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-005-9008-1

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