Carol Maddock talks to ecanver.tv about a roundtable discussion held to identify some of the issues relating to the communication of cancer risk. The discussion involved four women who had had breast cancer, two of whom had tested positive for the BRCA mutation, and all of whom had connections with advocacy groups, a psycho-oncologist and a medical geneticist. The videos have been posted online in the hope that they will stimulate online discussions of the following issues:

How cancer risk and genetic risk status are communicated to patients
What lessons can be learnt from risk communication in other countries
Is cancer risk information being presented in the correct way and at the correct time?
Do the professionals communicating this information have the correct skills?
How does testing positive for the BRCA gene affect a patient’s family members?

The discussion can be seen by selecting one of the links below:

How can we improve risk communication?
Information and support needs
Skills of communicators
Telling the Family
To take the genetic test or not...?