The M.Sc. Genetic Counselling Program includes a research project as a graduation requirement. The purpose of the research requirement is for each student to have the opportunity to gain experience in study design, research methods, academic writing, and self-directed education. This requirement is meant to be an introduction to the area of research in genetic counselling and is not a formal Master’s thesis requirement.
Examples of Directed Study Projects, 2022 – 2018:
Jacob Coleman. Exploring factors affecting genetic counselor’s career preferences: a discrete choice experiment (2022).
Loryn Byres. Exploring autistic adults’ perspectives on genetic testing for autism spectrum disorder (2022).
Ann-Marie Peturson. Investigating the relationship between therapeutic alliance and patient outcomes of genetic counselling (2022).
Kiara Lowes. A Qualitative Study Exploring the Consumer Experience of Receiving Self-Initiated Polygenic Risk Scores from a Third-Party Website (2022). – Published in Journal of human genetics, 2022.
Emma Cunningham. Exploring Genetic Counsellors’ Experiences with Disclosure of Misattributed Paternity (2022).
Manraj Randhawa. Exploring the Experiences of Patients with Skeletal Dysplasias and their Families: A Mixed-Methods Study (2022).
Amy Ho. “How do I tell my sister?” Exploring patient experiences on family mediated cascade screening and alternative approaches for inherited arrhythmia conditions. (2021). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, January 2022.
Courtney Cook. Caregivers’ perspectives, experiences and need for support when communicating with their children about the psychiatric manifestations of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (2021). – Published in Journal of community genetics, 13(1), 91–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-021-00558-9.
Melissa Cornthwaite. Evaluating the clinical utility of prenatal exome sequencing for fetal anomalies (2021).
Julia Heaton. Serving the Whole Family: Experiences and Unmet Needs of Siblings of Children with Genetic Conditions (2021). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2022.
Faith Cheung. Understanding the experience and impact of receiving incidental findings from genome-wide sequencing (2021). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 31(4), 887–900. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1558.
Vivian Cheng. Investigating behaviour change, acceptance and integration of illness as outcomes of psychiatric genetic counselling (2021).
Amy Cutts. The Current Landscape of Consent Forms in Hereditary Cancer Clinics In Canada: Tool or Burden? (2020).
Caitlin Aldridge. A retrospective study of parental experiences with rapid genome-wide sequencing in a neonatal intensive care unit: A GenCOUNSEL sub-study (2020). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 30(2), 616–629. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1353.
Erica Peacock. Neurologists’ use of genetic testing in Parkinson disease: knowledge, attitudes and behaviours (2020).
Brianna van den Adel. An internship with the Adapt clinic: Impact on genetic counselling graduate’s comfort with psychiatric genetic counselling and future career direction (2020). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2022.
Areesha Salman. Personality and Genetic Counselling: How patient personality types and coping styles alter genetic counselling outcomes (2020). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2022.
Noura Osman. Autism Community Connects: A Co-Design Web-Platform to Facilitate the Uptake of Research Evidence by Families (2020).
Larissa Peck. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for common complex disease in consumer genomics: Exploring motivations, perceptions and reactions in users of a third-party analysis tool (2020). – Published in European journal of human genetics : EJHG, 30(1), 81–87. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-021-00929-3.
Heather Barnes. Trans-Inclusive Genetic Counselling Services: Recommendations from the Transgender Community (2019). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, October 2019.
Taylor Costa. Genetic Counselling Workforce Trends in Canada: Employer Practices and Perspectives (2019). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2020.
Brittany Gillies. Study of Employment for Recent Canadian Genetic Counselling Graduates (2019). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 2020.
Kellie Brown. An Educational Video for a Population at Risk for Hereditary Pancreatic Cancer: Exploring the Roles of Anxiety and Cancer Worry in Patient Outcomes (2019).
Kelly Turner. Providers’ Perceptions of Parental Decision-Making and Attitudes Toward Full and Virtual Fetal Autopsy (2019).
Emma Hitchcock. Shortened Consent Forms for Genome-Wide Sequencing: Patient and Provider Perspectives (2019). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, April 2019.
Kennedy Borle. Exploring the importance of recurrence numbers in psychiatric genetic counselling (2018) – Published in Clinical Genetics. 2018; 94:239–245.
Stephanie Chieffo. Development and evaluation of a patient resource for psychiatric risk involved in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (2018).
Vanessa Di Gioacchino. Canadian Genetic Healthcare Professionals’ Attitudes Towards Discussing Private Pay Options with Patients (2018) – Published in Molecular genetics & genomic medicine 2019 Apr;7(4):e00572.
Cara Ingles. Understanding new developmental syndromes (2018). – Published in Journal of genetic counseling, 28(2), 202–212. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1121.
Eugene Wong. Exploring the psychosocial impact of receiving a variant reclassification in patients with inherited cardiac diseases (2018) – Published in European Journal of Human Genetics. 27. 1. 10.1038/s41431-019-0377-6.
Jill Madden. Determining how genetic test results from a standardized gene panel affect worry, regret or perceived risk of hereditary cancer in British Columbia (2018).