Medicalizing risk: How experts and consumers manage uncertainty in genetic health testing
Given increased prevalence of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic health tests in recent years, this paper delves into discourses among researchers at professional genomics conferences and lay DTC genetic test users on popular discussion website Reddit to understand the contested value of genetic knowl...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9352100/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1798038136342708224 |
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| author | Meghna Mukherjee Margaret Eby Skyler Wang Armando Lara-Millán Althea Maya Earle |
| author_facet | Meghna Mukherjee Margaret Eby Skyler Wang Armando Lara-Millán Althea Maya Earle |
| author_sort | Meghna Mukherjee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Given increased prevalence of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic health tests in recent years, this paper delves into discourses among researchers at professional genomics conferences and lay DTC genetic test users on popular discussion website Reddit to understand the contested value of genetic knowledge and its direct implications for health management. Harnessing ethnographic observations at five conferences and a text -analysis of 52 Reddit threads, we find both experts and lay patient-consumers navigate their own versions of “productive uncertainty.” Experts develop genetic technologies to legitimize unsettled genomics as medical knowledge and mobilize resources and products, while lay patient-consumers turn to Internet forums to gain clarity on knowledge gaps that help better manage their genetic risk states. By showing how the uncertain nature of genomics serves as a productive force placing both parties within a mutually cooperative cycle, we argue that experts and patient-consumers co-produce a form of relational medicalization that concretizes “risk” itself as a disease state. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:36:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b84af644c7be49449c8e0995ba7deaf9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:36:06Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-b84af644c7be49449c8e0995ba7deaf92022-12-22T04:01:45ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01178Medicalizing risk: How experts and consumers manage uncertainty in genetic health testingMeghna MukherjeeMargaret EbySkyler WangArmando Lara-MillánAlthea Maya EarleGiven increased prevalence of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic health tests in recent years, this paper delves into discourses among researchers at professional genomics conferences and lay DTC genetic test users on popular discussion website Reddit to understand the contested value of genetic knowledge and its direct implications for health management. Harnessing ethnographic observations at five conferences and a text -analysis of 52 Reddit threads, we find both experts and lay patient-consumers navigate their own versions of “productive uncertainty.” Experts develop genetic technologies to legitimize unsettled genomics as medical knowledge and mobilize resources and products, while lay patient-consumers turn to Internet forums to gain clarity on knowledge gaps that help better manage their genetic risk states. By showing how the uncertain nature of genomics serves as a productive force placing both parties within a mutually cooperative cycle, we argue that experts and patient-consumers co-produce a form of relational medicalization that concretizes “risk” itself as a disease state.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9352100/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Meghna Mukherjee Margaret Eby Skyler Wang Armando Lara-Millán Althea Maya Earle Medicalizing risk: How experts and consumers manage uncertainty in genetic health testing PLoS ONE |
| title | Medicalizing risk: How experts and consumers manage uncertainty in genetic health testing |
| title_full | Medicalizing risk: How experts and consumers manage uncertainty in genetic health testing |
| title_fullStr | Medicalizing risk: How experts and consumers manage uncertainty in genetic health testing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Medicalizing risk: How experts and consumers manage uncertainty in genetic health testing |
| title_short | Medicalizing risk: How experts and consumers manage uncertainty in genetic health testing |
| title_sort | medicalizing risk how experts and consumers manage uncertainty in genetic health testing |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9352100/?tool=EBI |
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