Undergraduates' Attitudes and Perceptions towards Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing

With completion of the Human Genome Project, Direct to Consumer (DTC) genetic testing is an increasingly available option for health risk testing and ancestry. Communication is critical because consumers need to be aware of what they are purchasing, and health care providers need to be aware of how and what consumers are hearing about testing. Furthermore, because of the social and ethical implications surrounding genomic testing, it is important to study public opinions and attitudes as a framework for public policy makers. This study utilized an online survey to examine the attitudes and perceptions of DTC genetic testing among 423 undergraduate students at a public University in Northwest Ohio.

The survey was split into four parts: general demographics, knowledge of human genetics, awareness of personal genome companies, and opinions regarding DTC personal genome testing. The study results showed how undergraduates hear about testing, and that undergraduates in the health sciences or engineering fields are more likely to have a better understanding of DTC genetic testing. Undergraduate students learn about DTC genetic testing most commonly through television and the internet (20.1%), that they were not confident interpreting their results alone (69.6%), and would prefer expert guidance to be included with the test results (82.0%). Healthcare providers need to be prepared for questions and to battle the misconceptions that result from information being shared on television and social media.