Grant: Knowledge Translation Supplement

In 2008, we received funding from the Vancouver Foundation to conduct the first ever randomized controlled trial (RCT) of psychiatric genetic counseling (GC) for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI - schizophrenia, bipolar or schizoaffective disorder). We compared GC to both a control intervention and no intervention. Our data show that GC has important benefits for people with SMI (e.g. reducing internalized stigma). We seek funding to allow us to implement an integrative KT model to disseminate our findings: 1) A knowledge broker will be hired to provide GC for people with SMI in British Columbia who would like it. We will track use of GC: this will help us develop a case for implementing a specialist clinical GC service for people with SMI. 2) With the input of people with SMI and their family members, we developed an educational booklet about the causes of SMI that we used in the control intervention in the RCT. The booklet had some positive effects for people with SMI. We will redesign the booklet based on the feedback we received from RCT participants, and print 5000 copies. We will distribute the booklets to psychiatrists, advocacy groups and the members of professional organizations of Genetic Counselors (so that they can share them with their clients). 3)To build capacity for the provision of GC for SMI: a stipend for an MSc genetic counseling student to gain experience with our group will be offered; the PI will travel to the GC training programs at McGill and Toronto to provide workshops about GC for SMI for the students. 4) We will publish our findings in an open access journal, present at international conferences, and will engage with the media to disseminate our findings more broadly. We will present our study findings to consumer and advocacy groups, mental health treatment teams, and private psychiatrists throughout British Columbia in order to raise awareness of the availability and potential benefits of GC for people with SMI.