New literacy challenge for the twenty-first century: genetic knowledge is poor even among well educated

TY - JOUR

T1 - New literacy challenge for the twenty-first century

T2 - genetic knowledge is poor even among well educated

AU - Chapman, Robert

AU - Likhanov, Maxim

AU - Selita, Fatos

AU - Zakharov, Ilya

AU - Smith-Woolley, Emily

AU - Kovas, Yulia

PY - 2018/3/28

Y1 - 2018/3/28

N2 - We live in an age of rapidly advancing genetic research. This research is generating new knowledge that has implications for personal health and well-being. The present study assessed the level of genetic knowledge and personal engagement with genetics in a large sample (N = 5404) of participants. Participants received secondary education in 78 countries, with the largest samples from Russia, the UK and the USA. The results showed significant group differences in genetic knowledge between different countries, professions, education levels and religious affiliations. Overall, genetic knowledge was poor. The questions were designed to assess basic genetic literacy. However, only 1.2% of participants answered all 18 questions correctly, and the average score was 65.5%. Genetic knowledge was related to peoples’ attitudes towards genetics. For example, those with greater genetic knowledge were on average more willing to use genetic knowledge for their personal health management. Based on the results, the paper proposes a number of immediate steps that societies can implement to empower the public to benefit from ever-advancing genetic knowledge.

AB - We live in an age of rapidly advancing genetic research. This research is generating new knowledge that has implications for personal health and well-being. The present study assessed the level of genetic knowledge and personal engagement with genetics in a large sample (N = 5404) of participants. Participants received secondary education in 78 countries, with the largest samples from Russia, the UK and the USA. The results showed significant group differences in genetic knowledge between different countries, professions, education levels and religious affiliations. Overall, genetic knowledge was poor. The questions were designed to assess basic genetic literacy. However, only 1.2% of participants answered all 18 questions correctly, and the average score was 65.5%. Genetic knowledge was related to peoples’ attitudes towards genetics. For example, those with greater genetic knowledge were on average more willing to use genetic knowledge for their personal health management. Based on the results, the paper proposes a number of immediate steps that societies can implement to empower the public to benefit from ever-advancing genetic knowledge.

KW - Demographic differences

KW - Genetic knowledge

KW - Genetic literacy

KW - Genetic testing

KW - Health

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85044451669&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s12687-018-0363-7

DO - 10.1007/s12687-018-0363-7

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85044451669

SN - 1868-310X

SP - 1

EP - 12

JO - Journal of Community Genetics

JF - Journal of Community Genetics

ER -