Health literacy and attitudes towards prenatal genetic testing

Purpose: Much of the concerns surrounding genetic testing are during the potentially invasive and highly controversial prenatal care period. Little is known in regards to couples' attitudes towards prenatal genetic testing. The purpose of this paper is to explore attitudes of couples toward prenatal genetic testing by creating a genomic health literacy framework upon which to base measurement. Methods: One model in the literature focuses on four major domains: fundamental, science, community, and cultural literacy; all affecting individual health literacy. The Institute of Medicine developed varying frameworks representing the application of health literacy in the real world setting. To create an updated framework to fit prenatal genetic testing, this author combined these frameworks with the support of current literature to create a genomic health literacy framework. Findings: The model developed is based upon the definition of health literacy reported in the literature. Each component of these models contributes to some aspect of health literacy. The current literature shows that attitudes are a result of health literacy in some capacity and must then be represented in these models. Thus, a new framework for genomic health literacy was created. Conclusions: Genetic testing is still a fairly new and controversial area of research. By using health literacy as a conceptual framework, researchers can formulate specific research questions and hypotheses in regards to attitudes towards prenatal genetic testing. Much research remains to be done in this area.