<b>Quotidian management of an undesired inheritance: a sociological study on genetic risk of hereditary cancer</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actascihealthsci.v28i1.1095

Abstract

This study presents some results obtained on a qualitative study about the everyday life of the individuals in genetic risk of hereditary cancer. The analytical perspective, which can be outlined on the basis of an analysis of the individuals’ reports, points out the importance of the limiting conditions of risk acceptance. This is presently expressed in the tendency for the different technological projects – including genetics – to appeal to both individual and collective wishes for a better future. Another conclusion is that the daily management of genetic risk is centred on the family experience of cancer, which allows preventives practices, indispensable to control the disease, to be put into action. This knowledge, sometimes accumulated and transmitted orally from generation to generation, and other times obtained from experiencing pain and death on a daily basis, or even by sharing in the joy of triumphing over cancer represents one of the pillars of the daily management of an unwelcome inheritance