PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARDS PREDICTIVE GENETIC TESTING OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS.

The major psychiatric disorders are genetically complex with unknown etiology. Newly developed and commercially available DNA-based predictive genetic tests can provide the information about potential increased risk for development of major psychiatric disorder. However, a variety of ethical questions and dilemmas emerged reflecting prejudice and stigmatization linked to the use of these tests. This study was aimed at exploring the public opinion and public stigma towards the predictive genetic testing in psychiatry. The survey was conducted on 515 random subjects in Sarajevo city area, who filled out questionnaires including specific questions regarding the awareness, attitudes and stigma towards this kind of genetic testing. We found that responders with family burden had extremely positive attitude towards predictive genetic testing. In addition, our findings indicated that subjects with family burden were less stigmatized to the positive results of predictive genetic testing in psychiatry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]