Psychiatric genetic counselling: current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa

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dc.contributor.advisorLaing, Nakita
dc.contributor.advisorDalvie, Shareefa
dc.contributor.advisorStein, Dan
dc.contributor.authorEllis, Lize
dc.date.accessioned2025-11-19T12:51:26Z
dc.date.available2025-11-19T12:51:26Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.date.updated2025-11-19T09:44:26Z
dc.description.abstractPsychiatric genetic counselling: Current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa Psychiatric conditions are common, and psychiatric genetic counselling (PGC) aims to help people understand their, or a family member's, mental illness better, as well as help them understand the factors that can contribute to the development of a mental illness. However, PGC services are not implemented routinely despite reported patient benefits of increased patient empowerment and self-efficacy. This study serves as a pilot project to investigate current practices of mental illness counselling services, focusing on aetiology, provided by psychiatric healthcare professionals at a single unit in the public health sector in Cape Town, South Africa. A pragmatic qualitative research approach, using semi-structured interviews, was used to explore the questions patients ask in terms of recurrence and causes of their mental illness, as well as healthcare provider's (HCPs) opinions on offering a PGC service. Ten interviews were thematically analysed. Results showed that PGC is not being routinely implemented in psychiatric consultations, patients and families have limited genetic knowledge, and family members frequently ask about the mental health condition and its causes. Psychiatric HCPs seemed to believe PGC is likely to be beneficial to the patient, their families and mental health services, and would use such a service if available to them. However, there were several perceived barriers to establishing a PGC service, such as limited resources and available time, which makes a PGC service unfeasible at this point. These results will contribute to the body of knowledge on PGC (such as potential applications, benefits and obstacles, and acceptability of PGC) and may serve as a starting point to considering the implementation of a PGC service in Cape Town, South Africa.
dc.identifier.apacitationEllis, L. (2025). <i>Psychiatric genetic counselling: current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Pathology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42274en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationEllis, Lize. <i>"Psychiatric genetic counselling: current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Pathology, 2025. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42274en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationEllis, L. 2025. Psychiatric genetic counselling: current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Pathology. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42274en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Ellis, Lize AB - Psychiatric genetic counselling: Current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa Psychiatric conditions are common, and psychiatric genetic counselling (PGC) aims to help people understand their, or a family member's, mental illness better, as well as help them understand the factors that can contribute to the development of a mental illness. However, PGC services are not implemented routinely despite reported patient benefits of increased patient empowerment and self-efficacy. This study serves as a pilot project to investigate current practices of mental illness counselling services, focusing on aetiology, provided by psychiatric healthcare professionals at a single unit in the public health sector in Cape Town, South Africa. A pragmatic qualitative research approach, using semi-structured interviews, was used to explore the questions patients ask in terms of recurrence and causes of their mental illness, as well as healthcare provider's (HCPs) opinions on offering a PGC service. Ten interviews were thematically analysed. Results showed that PGC is not being routinely implemented in psychiatric consultations, patients and families have limited genetic knowledge, and family members frequently ask about the mental health condition and its causes. Psychiatric HCPs seemed to believe PGC is likely to be beneficial to the patient, their families and mental health services, and would use such a service if available to them. However, there were several perceived barriers to establishing a PGC service, such as limited resources and available time, which makes a PGC service unfeasible at this point. These results will contribute to the body of knowledge on PGC (such as potential applications, benefits and obstacles, and acceptability of PGC) and may serve as a starting point to considering the implementation of a PGC service in Cape Town, South Africa. DA - 2025 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Psychiatric genetic counselling KW - Mental illness KW - Qualitative research LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2025 T1 - Psychiatric genetic counselling: current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa TI - Psychiatric genetic counselling: current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42274 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/42274
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationEllis L. Psychiatric genetic counselling: current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Health Sciences ,Department of Pathology, 2025 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42274en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Pathology
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciences
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectPsychiatric genetic counselling
dc.subjectMental illness
dc.subjectQualitative research
dc.titlePsychiatric genetic counselling: current landscape and opinions of psychiatric healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
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