Causality, responsibility and blame - core issues in the cultural construction and subtext of prevention

Journal/Book: Sociol Health Ill. 1996; 18: 108 Cowley Rd, Oxford, Oxon, England OX4 1JF. Blackwell Publ Ltd. 632-652.

Abstract: It is suggested that preventive thinking is founded in part on perceptions of causal connections, responsibility and blame. The perceived ability of health care and the individual to take active steps towards keeping the body healthy is incorporated in the preventive message. It would be wrong to suppose that these messages amount to a morally neutral description of an objective reality. Descriptions of causal relationships, be they by individual citizens or medical professionals, are inevitably selective, based on assessments and experience in daily life and clinical practice. Messages from preventive campaigns and information about health risks thus contain a hidden script, a culturally constructed subtext which is interpreted and dealt with by the actors involved. Explanations and interpretations of health risks among 40-year-old men going through a preventive programme of cholesterolemia in a farming region in Sweden is described. How these explanations and interpretations are communicated and constructed in the health care situation, and what implications they have in the every day life of these men, is discussed.

Note: Article L Sachs, Karolinska Inst, Ihcar, Dept Int Hlth & Social Med, Stockholm, Sweden

Keyword(s): prevention; health risks; causes of illness; cholesterol screening; health information; HEALTH; ILLNESS; HEART

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