Increasingly, in the United States, persons with limited or no English proficiency are seeking medical care, including genetic counseling services. However, the proportion of medical professionals representing various minority groups has not followed the same trend. It is currently estimated that nearly 15% of the US population cannot speak English at all or very well, in contrast to 7% of genetic counselors nationwide that belong to a minority group. Thus, a language barrier between client and genetic counselor is likely to exist. In order to ensure patient autonomy as well as to remain true to a client-centered approach, communication is integral to genetic counseling. This study aims to address genetic counselors' accessibility to and utilization of interpreters when persons with limited or no English proficiency seek their services, how often trained interpreters are requested, and to identify ad hoc interpreters in genetic counseling. Genetic counselors working in 21 states or the District of Columbia (N=830), places more densely populated by persons with limited English proficiency, were asked to complete a questionnaire about the need, accessibility to and utilization of interpreters, and other questions about their general experience with interpreters. The data gathered is largely descriptive, although statistical analyses are also being performed to determine whether there are associations between independent variables (type of interpreter, genetic counselors? satisfaction with interpreters, barriers to accessibility of interpreters, knowledge of interpreter resources, previous training about working with interpreters and genetic counselors? language ability) and interpreter utilization.
