E1 Komen’s Patient Navigation Training Course—Genetic Counseling and Testing: Barriers and Solutions
Kyandra Fox, MHA; Samantha Scott, MPH; Sabina Emerenini, MPH; Julie McMahon, MPH
Susan G. Komen, Dallas, TX
Background: Genetic counseling and testing (GCT) can provide information that is critical to an individual’s health. However, less than 20% of eligible patients receive GCT, highlighting the need for patient education. Komen’s course, GCT: Barriers and Solutions, was developed to provide navigators with tools to educate and navigate patients through GCT.
Objectives: To (1) explain the need for the GCT: Barriers and Solutions course; (2) emphasize how a thorough process was utilized to create the course content and ensure applicable information; and (3) highlight course survey results.
Methods: Komen’s Patient Care Center navigators reported a need for improved training on the complexity of the GCT process, based on the scenarios they were encountering in clinical practice. In response to this need, Komen’s Patient Navigation Training Program team conducted a landscape analysis, including data and best practices on GCT disparities and barriers, and utilized that analysis to develop a training course. The course was written and then reviewed by internal and external experts on GCT, including the executive director and founder of Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE), a previvor and genetic counseling and testing advocate; additionally, 2 medical doctors who research and provide GCT and patient navigation services for breast cancer patients reviewed the course material. Feedback was incorporated, and a second round of review was provided by Komen’s staff patient navigators. After final review and editing, instructional design was provided by Komen’s design team. The course was launched in March 2023. Precourse and postcourse surveys were embedded into the course design.
Results: The GCT course has been live for 2 months, and 72 trainees have completed it to date. Prior to taking the course, only 25% of the 72 trainees indicated that they had previous knowledge of and professional experience in GCT. Of the 69 postsurvey respondents, 69 reported that the course increased their understanding of the importance of GCT; 68 indicated that they identified tools and strategies they can utilize to navigate patients through GCT barriers; and 69 reported an intent to apply the tools and strategies learned in a professional setting.
Conclusion: Enlisting the aid of GCT experts and utilizing feedback from Komen’s patient navigators proved to be effective in developing the course content. Evaluation data support the need for and effectiveness of the course, as it increases trainees’ knowledge and provides actionable solutions towards training a professional workforce to address and help patients navigate the road to and through GCT, including any barriers that may contribute to disparities in utilization.
Sources
Battaglia TA, Zhang X, Dwyer AJ, Rush CH, Paskett ED. Change agents in the oncology workforce: let's be clear about community health workers and patient navigators. Cancer. 2022;128(suppl 13):2664-2668. doi: 10.1002/cncr.34194
Reid S, Cadiz S, Pal T. Disparities in genetic testing and care among Black women with hereditary breast cancer. Curr Breast Cancer Rep. 2020;12(3):125-131. doi: 10.1007/s12609-020-00364-1
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