Background Previous studies on the counselees’ perception of DNA-test results did not clarify whether counselees were asked about their recollections or interpretations, and only focused on patients’ own risks and not on the likelihood that cancer is heritable in the family. We tested differences and correlations of four perception aspects: recollections and interpretations of both cancer-risks and heredity-likelihood. In a retrospective study, women tested for BRCA1/2 on average 5 years ago completed questionnaires about their perception. Participants had received an unclassified-variant (n=76), uninformative (n=76) or pathogenic-mutation (n=51) result in BRCA1/2. Analyses included t-tests, correlations and Structural-Equation-Modelling.