“It was an Emotional Baby”: Previvors’ Family Planning Decision-Making Styles about Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk

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Abstract

Women who test positive for a BRCA genetic mutation are at an increased risk for developing hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and have a 50% chance of passing on their genetic mutation to their children. The purpose of this study was to investigate how women who test positive for a BRCA mutation but have not been diagnosed with cancer make decisions regarding family planning. Analysis of interviews with 20 women revealed they engage in logical and emotional decision-making styles. Although women want to be logical to reduce their hereditary cancer risk, emotions often complicate their decision-making. Women experience fear and worry about a future cancer diagnosis, yet also desire to create a family, particularly having children through natural conception. That is, women negotiate having preventative surgeries in a logical doctor-recommended timeframe but also organize those decisions around emotional desires of motherhood. Overall, this study demonstrates the complex decisions women who test positive for a BRCA mutation must make in regards to genetic testing timing, family planning, and overall quality of life.

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APA

Dean, M., & Rauscher, E. A. (2017). “It was an Emotional Baby”: Previvors’ Family Planning Decision-Making Styles about Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 26(6), 1301–1313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-017-0069-8

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