Family as Context for Clinical Genetics

The Family as Context in Clinical Genetics Project (FCCGP) is an innovative Web-based curriculum that focuses on the integration of the new genetic knowledge into clinical practice and uses the family as the context for care. A clinical Integration Model (CIM) has been developed that gives genomics a central position in practice knowledge with linkages to the health status of individual family members, the family, and environment (social, culture, physical, policy related). The core competencies identified through the National Coalition for Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG) guide content development and learner evaluation. The Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT) guides the development of a curriculum that helps learners develop the decision-making skills they need in complex care environments. The software that makes this possible is highly interactive with instructional hypertext, multimedia resources, self-testing, and extensive communication capabilities. This FCCGP proposal is the second phase of an interdisciplinary project with two schools of nursing (University of Illinois at Chicago and Johns Hopkins University) and two schools of medicine (University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chicago). The project extends the present CIM curriculum content, preparing learners to use the family as context for integrating clinical and genetic knowledge. The curriculum will also ready learners to integrate knowledge of genetics with family, environment, behavioral, psycho social, ethical, and legal knowledge. The CIM curriculum will be made portable so that it is not platform dependent thereby having a wider audience for dissemination in the long term. Evaluation will be a strong component in this program using the Preparedness Center Model at the School of Public Health UIC. The Center for the Advancement for Distance Education (CADE) will provide the technology expertise, web page development, registration, and evaluation portions of this program. Specific Aims: 1) Train 75 practicing nurses; 75 physicians, 75 nursing students and 75 medical students to integrate genetic principles into their clinical practices; 2) Test the effectiveness of the CIM curriculum model on the practicing nurses, physicians, nursing students, and medical students. Hypothesis: We will demonstrate that health professionals have improved their knowledge and skill competencies and attitudes about: a) the importance of the role of family in genetics; and b) the significance of the integration of the knowledge of genomics in practice; 3) Evaluate the project to determine: a) learner feedback; b) the continued accuracy and effectiveness of the CIM and curriculum; c) the effectiveness of our method for curriculum delivery (the web); and 3) the exportability and expandability of the curriculum to other users and settings.