Psihološki čimbenici povezani s genetskim testiranjem
Psychological Factors Related to Genetic Testing

Summary/Abstract: Genetic testing is a medical procedure that enables detection of inherited disorders and risk factors for certain pathological processes. Its application, which will likely be part of standard medical care in the future, opens up many psychological, philosophical, ethical, legal and other questions concerning the gains and risks associated with genetic diagnostics. Three types of genetic testing – diagnostic, predictive and carrier – are described here together with their purpose, mode of implementation and a list of some of the diseases which they might detect. In addition, results of many contemporary studies exploring predictors in the decision-making process "for" and "against" genetic testing are presented. Finally, there is a discussion of results obtained in studies investigating emotional, behavioral and social outcomes of genetic testing and the psychological consequences of the results of such a medical procedure. A review of the literature does not indicate any long-term effects of information obtained by genetic testing and suggests that emotional reactions are milder and more short-term than expected, no matter what kind of genetic testing is used. In addition, behavioral outcomes are often not in accordance with the pre-testing intention. The article concludes with a discussion on methodological difficulties in this field, suggestions of guidelines for future studies and practical recommendations for clinical work.

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