An Integrated Model of Emotions, Attitudes, and Intentions Associated With Undergoing Autism Genetic Testing.
With increasing availability of genetic testing for various disorders, individuals and family members at risk are facing more decisions regarding current and emerging tests. However, no study has examined psychological determinants associated with decisions to undergo genetic testing for Autism Spectrum Disorders.
As the number of genetic tests for multifactorial diseases continues to grow in clinical settings, individuals and family members at risk for these conditions are facing more decisions
regarding current and emerging tests. In many instances, undergoing genetic tests requires
complicated psychological and behavioral adjustments.
To be best of our knowledge, this is the first theory driven study that examined emotional and attitudinal predictors of the intentions to undergo ASD genetic testing among parents
of children with ASD in Taiwan using SEM modeling technique. Our findings extend existing literature on decision making about undergoing genetic testing for ASD in two ways.
First, we used an integrative model and SEM analyses to understand how emotions and attitudes might influence parents’ intentions to undergo ASD genetic testing. We added affect-type variables,
a largely overlooked factor in genetic testing decisions, as key constructs in our proposed model. A second way that our findings contribute to the existing literature for genetic testing is by
having direct implications for public health genomics education and practice.
After confirming that the measurement model exhibited appropriate fit, we performed SEM analyses to evaluate whether the data substantiated the hypothesized model. Latent variable
Anxiety expresses parents’ tendency to experience anxiety, state anxiety caused by ASD and state anxiety caused by ASD genetic testing.
