Nurse-led pre-test counseling for Alzheimer's disease biomarker testing: Knowledge and skills required to meet the needs of patients and families.
Olivia Greer, Rebekah Cheng, Lisa K Tamres and 4 others
PMID 37540906WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with mild cognitive impairment and their care partners used nurse-led pre-test counseling to ask what their diagnosis meant, whether it would become Alzheimer's disease, how the scan worked, and who would know the result.
Stigma and fear were common.
Key findings
01Dyads struggled to distinguish mild cognitive impairment from normal aging and asked whether progression to Alzheimer's disease was inevitable.
02Sixteen participants said they would tell others the scan results, and stigma or fear of being treated differently was common.
03Eleven of eighteen counseling sessions led to dementia prevention conversations, including lifestyle and medication topics.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis included eighteen dyads from a research trial. The sample had limited ethno-racial diversity. Data were collected before FDA approval of anti-amyloid monoclonal therapies. Motivations for testing and study logistics were excluded. The sessions were conducted by a master's-prepared registered nurse or counselor in a research setting. The study described questions and concerns; it did not test whether counseling improved decisions or reduced distress.
Declared interests
The parent study was funded by NIH. The authors declared no financial or personal conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that nurse-led counseling improves informed decision-making or reduces anxiety. The study described what patients and care partners asked and felt during counseling sessions; it did not compare counseling with no counseling or measure patient outcomes.