How do women talk about self-funded breast cancer genetic testing?: Small stories and stance-taking strategies.

Bechaz, A; Sexton, A; Gill, G; Karidakis, M

How do women talk about self-funded breast cancer genetic testing?: Small stories and stance-taking strategies.

Bechaz, A Sexton, A

Gill, G Karidakis, M

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Publisher:: WILEY
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: J Genet Couns, 2023
Issue Date:: 2023-09-04

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Bechaz, A
dc.contributor.author	Sexton, A https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8749-1639
dc.contributor.author	Gill, G
dc.contributor.author	Karidakis, M
dc.date.accessioned	2023-11-06T23:19:35Z
dc.date.available	2023-08-22
dc.date.available	2023-11-06T23:19:35Z
dc.date.issued	2023-09-04
dc.identifier.citation	J Genet Couns, 2023
dc.identifier.issn	1059-7700
dc.identifier.issn	1573-3599
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173101
dc.description.abstract	Genetic testing for breast cancer genes is an experience which is inextricably linked with health communication practices and the broader social context in which it occurs. Linguistic approaches can provide perspective on how women seeking self-funded BRCA1/2 gene testing represent their experiences, knowledge, roles, choices and emotions through the way they talk. A discursive constructionist epistemology and narrative theoretical framework informed the applied linguistics methodology. Analysis of 'small stories' and stance-taking was performed on eight transcripts of audio-recorded telephone interviews with women at low to moderate risk of carrying BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants who self-funded genetic testing. We found a high prevalence of 'small stories' including accounts of events, hypotheticals, habitual narratives, and stories which combined multiple genres. Stance-taking was a means by which participants constructed personal identities in the conversational context, such as that of a responsible person. Via stance-taking strategies, participants also actively negotiated the conversational agenda, for example expressing different degrees of alignment with the interviewer's orientation towards emotions. This study provides a basis for recognizing linguistic markers in genetic counseling interactions about genetic testing for breast cancer genes. Enhanced awareness of client language choice, and the ways in which small stories and stance can signify the client's evaluation of experience and choices, alignment with the genetic counselor's questions/statements, and investment in the conversation, has potential to improve the therapeutic interaction.
dc.format	Print-Electronic
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	WILEY
dc.relation.ispartof	J Genet Couns
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1002/jgc4.1782
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1103 Clinical Sciences
dc.subject.classification	Genetics & Heredity
dc.subject.classification	3202 Clinical sciences
dc.title	How do women talk about self-funded breast cancer genetic testing?: Small stories and stance-taking strategies.
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.location.activity	United States
utslib.for	1103 Clinical Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health/Graduate School of Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health/Graduate School of Health/GSH.Genetic Counselling
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2023-11-06T23:19:34Z
pubs.publication-status	Published online

Abstract:

Genetic testing for breast cancer genes is an experience which is inextricably linked with health communication practices and the broader social context in which it occurs. Linguistic approaches can provide perspective on how women seeking self-funded BRCA1/2 gene testing represent their experiences, knowledge, roles, choices and emotions through the way they talk. A discursive constructionist epistemology and narrative theoretical framework informed the applied linguistics methodology. Analysis of 'small stories' and stance-taking was performed on eight transcripts of audio-recorded telephone interviews with women at low to moderate risk of carrying BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants who self-funded genetic testing. We found a high prevalence of 'small stories' including accounts of events, hypotheticals, habitual narratives, and stories which combined multiple genres. Stance-taking was a means by which participants constructed personal identities in the conversational context, such as that of a responsible person. Via stance-taking strategies, participants also actively negotiated the conversational agenda, for example expressing different degrees of alignment with the interviewer's orientation towards emotions. This study provides a basis for recognizing linguistic markers in genetic counseling interactions about genetic testing for breast cancer genes. Enhanced awareness of client language choice, and the ways in which small stories and stance can signify the client's evaluation of experience and choices, alignment with the genetic counselor's questions/statements, and investment in the conversation, has potential to improve the therapeutic interaction.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/173101