Are Young Adults Talking about Their Family Health History? - A Qualitative Pilot Study

Family Health History (FHH), an inexpensive and efficient tool, plays an essential role in risk assessment for a variety of hereditary conditions.  However, much of the literature on FHH communication focuses on older adults providing information about genetic testing or risk for conditions to younger generations. Little is known about how young adults are communicating with their family members about FHH and their use of the web-based FHH tool, initiated by the U.S. Surgeon General. We conducted face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 30 college students attending a large university in the south to gather information about FHH communications with their family members. Snowball sampling was employed between December 2014 and February 2015 and recruitment ceased when data achieved saturation. On average, participants were 24.5 years old (range: 19-33). Our sample was diverse in that half of participants were international young adults (Asian n=9; Latin Americans n=5; and African n=1). Our findings indicated that none of the interviewees had initiated conversations about their FHH with their family. The majority of students (90%) indicated favorable attitudes towards the online FHH tool by the U.S. Surgeon General, however, no participants were aware of this source prior to the study. The majority (93%) did not understand the importance of collecting their FHH.  Compared to their American counterparts, international students highlighted barriers to FHH collecting including family/cultural taboo and the long distance from their families. Our findings emphasize the need to provide educational programs for young adults on the importance of collecting FHH for proactive care.