TY - JOUR
T1 - Narrative Accounts of Hereditary Risk
T2 - Knowledge About Family History, Lay Theories of Disease, and “Internal” and “External” Causation
AU - Sanders, Tom
AU - Campbell, Rona
AU - Donovan, Jenny
AU - Sharp, Debbie
PY - 2007/4/1
Y1 - 2007/4/1
N2 - In this study, the authors sought to examine how risk information is articulated in relation to health problems that people identify as personally important and relevant. The respondents were receptive to health education messages, using different types of information in relation to its personal relevance and as a resource for managing and exercising control over perceived risk. People were not fatalistic about disease risk, as reported in previous research. Instead, they were responsive to complex public health messages and actively engaged in rationalizing their health risks, although this did not necessarily result in behavioral change. Consequently, a theoretical distinction exists between taking responsibility for evaluating complex public health messages and taking responsibility for behavioral change. The authors conclude that people's rationalizations about health risks often mirror the medical model of disease, suggesting that they are responsive to, and not fatalistic toward, such public health information.
AB - In this study, the authors sought to examine how risk information is articulated in relation to health problems that people identify as personally important and relevant. The respondents were receptive to health education messages, using different types of information in relation to its personal relevance and as a resource for managing and exercising control over perceived risk. People were not fatalistic about disease risk, as reported in previous research. Instead, they were responsive to complex public health messages and actively engaged in rationalizing their health risks, although this did not necessarily result in behavioral change. Consequently, a theoretical distinction exists between taking responsibility for evaluating complex public health messages and taking responsibility for behavioral change. The authors conclude that people's rationalizations about health risks often mirror the medical model of disease, suggesting that they are responsive to, and not fatalistic toward, such public health information.
KW - genetics
KW - family history
KW - narrative
KW - risk perceptions
KW - heuristics
U2 - 10.1177/1049732306297882
DO - 10.1177/1049732306297882
M3 - Article
VL - 17
SP - 510
EP - 520
JO - Qualitative Health Research
JF - Qualitative Health Research
SN - 1049-7323
IS - 4
ER -