Access to Genetic Testing in Underserved Patients With Cancer

Summary

This study compares the experiences of people who receive information about genetic testing from a computer-generated character to patients who receive information from a human genetics healthcare provider. Patients with cancer are increasingly recommended for genetic testing as standard of care. Multiple factors contribute to low usage of genetic testing but for many patients the lack of access to genetic counseling and testing is an important and flexible factor. Lack of access is especially relevant to racial/ethnic minority patients and those living in non-metropolitan rural settings who are frequently cared for at safety-net hospitals with limited genetics services. Alternative delivery models are necessary to improve rates of access to genetic testing in patients with cancer. Health information technology is under used by genetics providers. A patient-facing relational agent (PERLA) will provide pre-test genetics education in both English and Spanish across two clinical settings to facilitate more timely access to genetic testing. Using the PERLA intervention may help researchers learn different ways to provide education about genetic testing to patients with cancer compared to usual care.

Conditions

• Breast Carcinoma
• Male Breast Carcinoma
• Malignant Solid Neoplasm
• Metastatic Prostate Carcinoma
• Ovarian Carcinoma
• Pancreatic Exocrine Neoplasm
• Stage IVB Prostate Cancer American Joint Committee on Cancer v8
• Triple-Negative Breast Carcinoma

Interventions

OTHER

Best Practice

Receive provider-based genetic counseling

OTHER

Educational Intervention

Receive genetics education

OTHER

Electronic Health Record Review

Ancillary studies

OTHER

Genetic Counseling

Receive provider-based genetic counseling

OTHER

Interview

Ancillary studies

OTHER

Survey Administration

Ancillary studies

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)

  collaborator NIH

• Northeastern University

  collaborator OTHER

• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Southern California

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Charite Ricker, MS · University of Southern California

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-10-24

Primary Completion

2027-10-24

Completion

2028-10-24

Countries

• United States

Study Locations