GIA in Cascade Testing

Chatbots, also known as conversation agents, are programs designed to have interactive conversations with humans. While traditionally used in sectors such as online gaming and customer service, chatbots have made their way into a number of industries including healthcare and have shown promise in areas such as managing anxiety/depression, weight loss, and medication adherence. GIA (Genetic Information Assistant) is a chatbot specifically designed as a tool for patients to use for disseminating genetic results, education, and genetic counseling resources to their family members after they themselves receive a positive result.

Patients receive a secure GIA link from their provider and then are able to send their relatives the link to GIA through texting, email, and/or Facebook messenger. Once a relative clicks on the provided link, GIA's platform is structured as a decision tree, allowing family members to construct a personalized conversation about their family member's test results. This can be done either on a smartphone or computer. GIA provides basic genetics education and risk assessment and connects family members with local genetic counseling resources to continue this conversation and/or go forward with genetic testing. At the end of the conversation, the family member has the option of having a transcript sent to them via email for their reference. The objective of the current study is to evaluate the application of GIA for cascade testing in newly identified high risk breast and gynecologic mutation carriers.