Genetic Counselling Communication: A Discourse-Analytical Approach

For a long time, the genetic counselling process had remained a blackbox, especially from a discourse-analytical perspective. Over the last two decades, the rich and complex communication process that constitutes the ‘hybrid’ activity of genetic counselling has been a focus of study using discourse analysis methodology. Thematically, genetic counselling encompasses topics as diverse as the natural history of a genetic disorder, aspects of (non)diagnosis and prognosis, (non)treatability, lay genetic awareness, future risks for a client and other family members, reproduction choices, psychosocial aspects of coping, the ethical and legal consequences of decisions and privacy issues concerning the disclosure/circulation of genetic information. This range of topics does not follow neat and parallel interactional trajectories; instead the topics become interweaved in an overlapping manner and are managed interactionally under given conditions, including the multiparty nature of participation in the counselling encounter. A discourse-analytical approach is an attempt to uncover the structural, interactional and thematic organisation of genetic counselling as a situated activity.