Player chooses the response option: How do I reduce my chances of getting cancer?
LINDA: Healthy living can help, with all the usual suspects: sleep, diet, exercise. You could also talk to a doctor about stepping up cancer screenings such as mammograms or colonoscopies. You might need specific types, or you might need them more often. A doctor might know of medications that can reduce your risk. If you have a high risk, you could discuss risk reducing surgery, too.
Pic 17: On a full screen gray background, icons for healthy living can be seen along with the following text.
Sleep (icon of a person sleeping on a bed)
Diet (icon of an apple)
Exercise (icon of a person running on a treadmill)
Screening (icon of a magnifying glass spotting bacteria)
Medication (icon of a pill)
Surgery (icon of a surgical scalpel tracing a dotted line)
Player chooses the response option: Tell me more about genetic counseling and testing.
LINDA: Your family history can tell you a lot about your health risks. Genetic testing can give you even more info. Not everyone wants that info. Even if you do, there’s a lot to know about how testing works and what the results could mean for you.
Pic 18: Screen returns to Linda. The words “Genetic testing” appears on the left side.
LINDA: A doctor can explain some of this and help you decide whether you want genetic counseling and testing. You could also go straight to a genetic counselor. They're trained to help you weigh the pros and cons of testing. If you decide to get testing, they can explain what tests to get, what the results mean, and what to do with them.
Pic 19: A blue icon of a genetic counselor appears on the top left. The following words appear:
Genetic Counselors can help you with:
Pros and cons of testing
What tests to get
Understanding test results
Next steps
Player chooses the response option: How do I find a genetic counselor?
LINDA: Now that more people are doing telemedicine, it's easier than ever to find a genetic counselor. A doctor can help you find one, and there are online resources to help. You can find some in the Resources section of the menu, like BrightPink and FORCE, which have tips on how to talk to providers about counseling and testing and what questions to ask.
Player chooses the response option: What about direct to consumer tests?
LINDA: Right… there are some genetic tests you can get without a prescription, including ancestry tests. You'll want to be careful with those, they're not all the same. They may or may not test for the gene mutation that runs in your family. If you want to use one of these tests, talk to a doctor or genetic counselor about which one will give you the info you need. In many cases, if a test did find a mutation, you’d need lab testing to confirm the results.
Player chooses the response option: How do I get the test? How does it work?
LINDA: You'd give a sample of blood or spit, or a swab from inside your cheek. They’d test the sample for changes in certain genes. If you know what mutation runs in your family, they’d test for that known mutation.
Pic 20: A watermark of cell images appear on a blue background. The following text appears with their associated icons:
Genetic testing
Sample (icon of a vial)
Test (icon of a lab microscope)
Results (icon of a sheet with plus and minus signs)
LINDA: Results can be positive, negative, or unknown.
Pic 20: Learners can click through the following screens at their own pace. The first screen has four vial icons labeled in the following manner: “Positive” (with a red plus sign), “Unknown” with a yellow question mark, “True Negative” with a green minus sign and check mark, and “Uninformative Negative” with a green minus sign and question mark.
Pic 21: The next screen focuses on the “Positive” vial with the red plus sign and the following words:
Test results: positive
A “positive” result means the test found a change that’s linked to cancer risk.
Pic 22: The next screen focuses on the “True Negative” vial with the green minus sign, check mark, and the following words:
Test results: negative
A “negative” result could mean a few things.
A true negative is when they knew what to look for and where to look, and the test didn’t find it. You don’t have any changes to that gene that are linked to cancer risk.
Pic 23: The next screen focuses on the “Uninformative Negative” vial with the green minus sign, question mark, and the following words:
Test results: uninformative negative
An “uninformative” negative is when the test didn’t find a change, but it isn’t clear what that means. For example, if it isn’t known what mutation runs in the family, maybe you do have a mutation, just not in any of the genes that were tested. You might need more testing to learn more.
Pic 24: The next screen displays a black info icon with the following text:
Get Informed
This is why it’s important to know what kind of cancer runs in your family or what a family member’s genetic test results were! A genetic counselor can use that info to decide on the right testing.
Pic 23: The last screen focuses on the “Unknown” vial with the yellow question mark and the following words:
Test results: unknown
This could also be called a “Variant of Unknown Significance,” or VUS.
It means there’s a mutation in the gene, but science doesn’t know what that change means yet. It may or may not have any link to cancer. A doctor or genetic counselor can explain more.
Player chooses the response option: If I test positive, what happens next?
LINDA: Well, you can use that information to reduce your chances of getting cancer. You’d talk with your doctor and genetic counselor about what you might want to do and what your options are.
Player chooses the response option: If I test positive, does that mean I'll get cancer?
LINDA: No. Even if you test positive, that doesn’t mean you’ll definitely get cancer. A higher chance is still just a chance, not a guarantee.
Player chooses the response option: If I test negative, does that mean I won't get cancer?
LINDA: Unfortunately, testing negative for a mutation doesn’t mean you won’t get cancer. Everyone still has some risk of cancer. You should keep getting screenings and tests as normal for your age, family history, and other factors.
Pic 24: Learners can click through the following screens at their own pace. The first screen focuses again on the “True Negative” vial with a green minus sign. The following text appears:
How negative results affect screening
True negative (they knew what to look for and the test didn’t find it): You don’t have a higher chance of getting cancer like some of your family members do. Keep getting cancer screenings as normal for your age and other factors.