Study participants had varied beliefs about the benefits, consequences, and risks associated with genetic testing (Table 2). Gene testing is currently used in the health care arena for carrier screening, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, prenatal diagnostic testing, newborn screening, presymptomatic testing for predicting adult-onset disorders, presymptomatic testing for estimating the risk of developing adult-onset disorders, and confirmatory diagnosis [43]. Most study participants reported that they believed that genetic testing would lead to improved treatments and improve health outcomes. Yet, several study participants expressed concerns about adverse consequences that could result from the diagnosis of a genetically-linked condition/disease (e.g., potential breech of their privacy, emotional trauma, stigma, and discrimination).
