Career Advancement in Genetic Counseling: Perceived Opportunities and Barriers Among Practicing Genetic Counselors. Conflict of Interest Disclosures

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1 Career Advancement in Genetic Counseling: Perceived Opportunities and Barriers Among Practicing Genetic Counselors Natalie Poullard, MA, MS Melanie Hardy, MS, MS, CGC Edward Williams, MS, CGC Nancy Callanan, MS, CGC Conflict of Interest Disclosures In relation to this presentation, I declare that there are no conflicts of interest Professional Status Survey 1

2 Goal of the Current Study To provide a detailed assessment for how genetic counselors regard professional development Explore counselors views on what defines career advancement Identify perceived common barriers to advancement Serve as first step in creating a model for career advancement Professional Excellence and Career Advancement in Nursing (PECAN) Methods Anonymous online survey design Participants: NSGC members recruited through Survey: 64 items minutes to complete PECAN model factors included Data analysis: SPSS software Chi-square analysis T-tests Qualitative data independently coded by 2 principle investigators 2

3 Results 468 total participants (17% response rate) 373 (77.5%) completed the survey Career advancement definitions Additional responsibilities (71.5%) Salary (49.5%) Promotions (41.2%) Career ladder, recognition, new skills, autonomy, faculty appointment, personal satisfaction, other Example Definitions of Career Advancement Gaining more job responsibilities with new opportunities for career growth Developing my own private practice and working for myself Having a career ladder with more growth opportunities Most genetic counselors that I know have limited opportunities for career advancement 9% Disagree 61% 30% Neutral Agree 3

4 Other genetic counselors seem to have more opportunities for advancement than I do Disagree 28% 19% 53% Neutral Agree More Career Advancement Opportunities by Type of Position Disagree Neutral Agree Research 20% 49% 31% Industry 5% 18% 77% Academic 25% 31% 45% Clinical 75% 23% 2% Nonclinical 8% 20% 72% Barriers to Career Advancement Lack of structured advancement opportunities (73%) Lack of knowledge from supervisors on how to use my skills (44%) Clinical counselors: Personal unwillingness to relinquish patient contact Non-clinical counselors: Unwillingness of my supervisors to offer advancement 4

5 Career Advancement Perceptions Organizational barriers (40.8%) Personal drive (8.5%) More opportunities in industry (7 %) More opportunities in non-traditional roles (5.6%) Happy with available opportunities (11.3%) Example I think structure for advancement is institutionally based, whether it is an academic institution or non-clinical industry position. However, I believe more often than not, there are more structured hierarchies within Industry. Comparisons with PECAN Model Professional Preparedness Human Capitol Factors Social Capitol Factors System Factors External Support 5

6 Discussion Organizational barriers are a concern for clinical counselors Advancement more available in non-clinical or industry Defined career ladder may be adopted Limitations Response rate of 17% May not be representative Did not directly ask about career satisfaction Did not examine the entire PECAN model Future Directions Organizational barriers Explore how GCs are regarded Explore differences in clinical vs. non-clinical settings Personality (self efficacy, collaboration) External support 6

7 Acknowledgements My committee Dr. Sat Gupta, statistical advisor Randi Culp Stewart References Adeniran, R. K., Bhattacharya, A., & Adeniran, A. A. (2012). Professional excellence and career advancement in nursing: a conceptual framework for clinical leadership development. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 36, Kumaravel, S., Schneider, K., Cohen, S., Poole, A., and Zimmerman, H. (2014). NSGC 2014 Professional Status Survey: Executive Summary. Retrieved from 7