The impact of genetic counseling on parental risk perception and prevention strategy utilization for type 2 diabetes in at-risk children

TL;DR

This study shows that genetic counseling helps parents better understand their child's type 2 diabetes risk and encourages healthier behaviors.

Contribution

The study introduces a structured genetic counseling intervention for T2D prevention in young, at-risk children.

Findings

The intervention group showed increased risk knowledge after counseling.

Parents in the intervention group monitored their children's diets more closely.

Overall risk perception and family dietary habits did not significantly change.

Abstract

Family history is a strong risk factor for type 2 diabetes (T2D), but few studies have evaluated if parents with T2D understand their child’s risk and appropriate prevention strategies. Genetic counseling is an effective intervention to communicate risk for multifactorial disease and provide counseling on management and prevention. This prospective, cross-sectional feasibility study evaluates the impact of a genetic counseling intervention on parental risk perception towards T2D, knowledge of prevention strategies, and implementation of prevention strategies for their at-risk children. Thirty-seven parents with T2D and children between 2 and 11 years old were randomized into an intervention (n = 18) or control (n = 19) group. The intervention group received a structured genetic counseling intervention, which included an educational video, personalized risk assessment, and discussion of prevention strategies. Surveys measuring risk perception, knowledge of prevention strategies, patient empowerment, and health behaviors were administered pre-intervention and at one-month post-intervention for both groups. At one-month post-intervention, the intervention group demonstrated a statistically significant increase in risk knowledge (p = 0.0185) and higher engagement in monitoring child-specific dietary behaviors (p = 0.0334) compared to the control group while changes in overall risk perception, knowledge of prevention strategies, and family dietary habits were not significant. This study demonstrates that genetic counseling could be an effective method to increase parental risk knowledge and engagement in child-specific preventive behaviors for T2D. Findings from this study’s unique population of diverse parents with young, healthy children who have yet to develop modifiable risk factors for T2D could provide insight for developing targeted prevention programs.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12687-025-00841-z.

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