Anticiper l’avenir de la prévention basée sur le risque génétique : analyse qualitative de la perception des participants à l’étude «Dessine-moi un futur!»
In this era of «new public health», professionals are urged to shift their attention away from individuals and to pay greater attention to the social determinants of health. In the field of biomedical sciences, a movement in the opposite direction towards personalised health might allow for preventive and curative care tailored to each individual, according to their genetic risk profile. While scientific advances in the field of genomics have only begun to pave their way into our healthcare system, they carry the potential to change the face of prevention and give rise to important societal debates. This study’s aim is to contribute to a reflection on the future of one of the essential functions of public health by exploring public perceptions of prevention based on genetic risk. This qualitative research project consists of a secondary analysis of the content of exchanges which occurred between members of the public in the context of four deliberative workshops, during which they debated on the desirability of a fictive preventive technology, the «cardiac rectifier». Anthony Giddens’ theory of structuration is used as a conceptual framework to guide the analysis of the exchanges, which led to the following findings: a- the «cardiac rectifier» is far from being interpreted as a preventive intervention by every participant; b- its use is perceived as being legitimate or not on the basis of which group of individuals it would target; c- the proposed intervention cannot be thought of out of context.
genetic risk public deliberation prospective scenarios