Abstract
The American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC) sponsored a consensus development conference with participation from directors of graduate programs in genetic counseling, board members, and expert consultants. Using a collective, narrative, and case-based approach, 27 competencies were identified as embedded in the practice of genetic counseling. These competencies were organized into four domains of skills: Communication; Critical Thinking; Interpersonal, Counseling, and Psychosocial Assessment; and Professional Ethics and Values. The adoption of a competency framework for accreditation has a variety of implications for curriculum design and implementation. We report here the process by which a set of practice-based genetic counseling competencies have been derived; and in an accompanying article, the competencies themselves are provided. We also discuss the application of the competencies to graduate program accreditation as well as some of the implications competency-based standards may have for education and the genetic counseling profession. These guidelines may also serve as a basis for the continuing education of practicing genetic counselors and a performance evaluation tool in the workplace.
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The Consortium includes Directors of established graduate programs in genetic counseling and members of the ABGC Board of Directors who participated in the Consensus Development Conference held in January 1994: Diane Baker (University of Michigan/ABGC); Bonnie Baty (ABGC); Joan Burns (University of Wisconsin); Debra Collins (ABGC); Virginia Corson (ABGC); Beth Fine (Northwestern University/ABGC); Elizabeth Gettig (University of Pittsburgh); Verle Headings (Howard University); Jacqueline Hecht (University of Texas); Carl Huether (University of Cincinnati); Bonnie LeRoy (University of Minnesota); Joan Marks (Sarah Lawrence College); Anne Matthews (University of Colorado); Roberta Palmour (McGill University); Lorna Phelps (Medical College of Virginia); Kimberly Quaid (Indiana University); Joan Scott (ABGC); Ann Smith (ABGC); Helen Travers (ABGC); Judith Tsipis (Brandeis University); Ann Walker (University of California-Irvine/ABGC); Jon Weil (University of California-Berkeley); S. Robert Young (University of South Carolina); Randi Zinberg (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York).
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Fiddler, M.B., Fine, B.A., Baker, D.L. et al. A case-based approach to the development of practice-based competencies for accreditation of and training in graduate programs in genetic counseling. J Genet Counsel 5, 105–112 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01408655
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01408655