Background Group genetic counseling has been implemented to meet growing demand. A metaverse platform, in which a society is built and activities are carried out in the virtual world, has not yet been implemented in group genetic counseling. We investigated whether a metaverse platform could be an alternative service-delivery model for group genetic counseling. Methods Participants (N=131) were divided into three groups: patient (N=45), family (N= 43), and interested (N=43) groups. Participants entered the metaverse through a link sent to their mobile phones and attended a 20-min group genetic counseling session reviewing hereditary breast cancer, followed by a 10-min question-and-answer period. Results The overall median score of post-educational knowledge (9.0, range 8.0-10.0) significantly increased compared to that of pre-educational knowledge (6.0, range 3.0-8.0) (P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the pre- and post-educational knowledge scores among the three groups (P>0.05). Most participants (95%) responded that their understanding of hereditary breast cancer had increased after the group genetic counseling session and that their satisfaction was high. The main advantage noted with metaverse was no limit of space and location while attending the session (97%), and the main disadvantage was a possibility of missing content due to an unstable internet connection (67%). Conclusions The metaverse platform would be acceptable as an alternative group genetic counseling service. More studies are needed to investigate how, for whom, and in what circumstances metaverse can be effectively utilized.

中文翻译：

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通过基于 Metaverse 的应用程序评估团体遗传咨询会议。

背景 团体遗传咨询的实施是为了满足不断增长的需求。在团体遗传咨询中尚未实现在虚拟世界中建立社会并开展活动的元宇宙平台。我们研究了虚拟宇宙平台是否可以成为团体遗传咨询的替代服务提供模式。方法 参与者（N=131）分为三组：患者组（N=45）、家属组（N=43）和感兴趣组（N=43）。参与者通过发送到手机的链接进入虚拟宇宙，并参加 20 分钟的小组遗传咨询会议，回顾遗传性乳腺癌，然后是 10 分钟的问答时间。结果 学后知识总分中位数（9.0，范围8.0~10.0）较学前知识总中位数（6.0，范围3.0~8.0）显着提高（P<0.001）。三组学前、学后知识得分差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）。大多数参与者（95%）表示，团体遗传咨询后，他们对遗传性乳腺癌的了解有所增加，满意度很高。Metaverse 的主要优点是参加会议时没有空间和位置限制 (97%)，主要缺点是由于互联网连接不稳定而可能丢失内容 (67%)。结论 Metaverse 平台作为替代团体遗传咨询服务是可以接受的。需要更多的研究来调查如何、为谁以及在什么情况下可以有效地利用元宇宙。