Genetic Literacy and Attitudes Survey (iGLAS): International Population-Wide Assessment Instrument

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Chapman, Robert; Likhanov, Maxim; Selita, Fatos; Zakharov, Ilya; Smith-Woolley, Emily and Kovas, Yulia. 2017. Genetic Literacy and Attitudes Survey (iGLAS): International Population-Wide Assessment Instrument. The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences EpSBS, 33(6), pp. 45-66. [Article]

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2017.12.6

Abstract or Description

Genetics represents the fastest developing discipline in the history of scientific enquiry. Genetic advances have implications for individuals and society, including matters related to law, ethics, education, medicine and philosophy. As such, it will be important for all people to be able to engage with genetic research, not just at the point that it becomes personally applicable, such as in medical treatment, but also more generally across many social domains. Given the ever-increasing impact of genetics on daily life, it is important to have a tool to evaluate what people know, think and feel about genetics and for this tool to be applicable across society. Previous studies have mainly focused on genetic literacy in medical domains with less attention paid to other applications. They have also largely focused on well-defined populations, such as undergraduate students and young adults. To overcome these limitations of previous research in this area, a consortium of psychologists, geneticists, lawyers, educationalists and ethicists have developed the International Genetic Literacy and Attitudes Survey (iGLAS). This paper presents the development, piloting and validation of this instrument. The resulting iGLAS provides a flexible, informative and quick tool for evaluating public knowledge and perceptions of genetics. In particular, it provides a tool that can be used across all demographics, allowing for tailored research with specific groups of interest.

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Article

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https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2017.12.6