16 4
Instructor Note
- Observers can use Appendix 3 , Observer Checklist for Making Referrals.
Activity 8: Goal-Setting (Think-Pair-Share Dyads or Small Groups)
Discuss these questions: What are your reactions to setting goals in genetic counsel-
ing? What might be some challenges in setting goals from the patient’s perspective?
From your perspective? How do you avoid imposing your goals on patients?
Estimated time: 10–15 min.
Activity 9: Unrealistic Genetic Counseling Goals Brainstorming (Dyads or
Small Groups)
Students generate a list of unrealistic genetic counseling goals for patients (e.g., I’m
only having this test because my doctor wants me to; I want a test so I can be sure I
won’t get cancer).
Estimated time: 15 min.
Instructor Note
- This activity could be expanded by having dyads or small groups exchange lists
and rewrite the goals to make them more realistic. - Another way to expand this activity is to have dyads or small groups formulate a
response to each patient, as if they were actually speaking to the patient, that
clarifies and/or modifies each goal.
Activity 10: Goal-Setting Exercise (Dyads or Small Groups)
Dyads or small groups change the following genetic counseling patient problem
statements into goal statements:
- A prenatal patient says, “I’m afraid something’s wrong with my baby.”
- “My son has just been diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome, and he needs some-
one to talk to.” - “My mother died of breast cancer, and I’m afraid I’m going to die like that, too.”
- “I’m sick of wondering whether I have the gene for Huntington’s!”
- “No one can tell me what’s wrong with my son.”
6 Structuring Genetic Counseling Sessions: Initiating, Contracting, Ending, and Referral