Primary Care Provider Practices, Attitudes, and Confidence with Hereditary Cancer Risk Assessment and Testing: A Mixed Methods Study

Purpose: This study sought to better understand primary care providers' readiness to conduct population-based risk assessment and offer genetic testing for hereditary cancer.

Methods: Sixty primary care providers completed a survey assessing their current practices, attitudes, and confidence with cancer risk assessment and testing. Sixteen participated in follow-up interviews. Descriptive statistics are presented and supported by qualitative data.

Results: Providers preferred direct questioning over standardized screening tools. In interviews, providers said they are not ordering cancer-risk genetic testing even when it might be appropriate. Ninety-eight percent agree testing is important to clinical care, but 73% agree that it could negatively affect patients. Ninety percent were willing to offer targeted testing, but only 68% were willing to offer population-based risk assessment. Confidence performing different behaviors necessary in a cancer risk assessment varied, with only 32% confident responding to questions specifically related to genetic testing.

Conclusion: Providers are willing to offer genetic testing but unlikely to do so because they lack confidence in genetics-specific skill areas. Unsystematic approaches to family history screening and fears about follow-up complexity may exacerbate health disparities. Interventions to increase provider confidence in ascertaining and managing hereditary cancer are needed to achieve widespread adoption of population-based risk assessment and guideline-recommended genetic testing.