Predictors of Student Outcomes on Perceived Knowledge and Competence of Genetic Family History Risk Assessment

The publication of the human genome project has launched a number of discoveries set to change the landscape of healthcare. Unfortunately, nursing faculty across the United States report they are unprepared to teach students who will be practicing in the genomic era. The purpose of this study, utilizing Rogers’ (2003) Diffusion of Innovation theory as a framework, was to determine the degree to which nursing school characteristics predict graduating undergraduate nursing students’ perceived knowledge and competence of genetic family history risk assessment. School characteristics included school size, proximity to a large city, faculty’s perceived barriers to diffusion of genomics into nursing practice, faculty innovativeness, faculty who have attended a genetics program for nursing faculty, and the integration of genomics into the curriculum. Faculty and students from 103 nursing schools across the United States participated in the study by completing online surveys. Hierarchical multiple regression was employed to determine how well the independent variables predicted student perceived knowledge and student perceived competence. No combination of the independent variables in this study predicted student knowledge or competence to the degree expected. This could be attributed to a lack of diffusion of genomics content across nursing curricula, based on Rogers’ (2003) theory. Other findings included faculty continue to believe they are not competent to teach genomics, and the curriculum is too dense to include more content. However, contrary to prior research, faculty did believe genomics was valuable. The findings of this study give direction for further research into student outcomes and curriculum evaluation after 2011, when a consensus panel working to diffuse genomics into nursing curriculum and practice will have implemented their strategic plan for this diffusion.