IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v202y2018icp13-19.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is there a “right time” for bad news? Kairos in familial communication on hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk

Author

Listed:
  • Derbez, Benjamin

Abstract

Time has long been considered as an important dimension of the process of disclosure of information about genetic risk to kin. The question of the “right time to tell” has been frequently noticed but seldom placed at the centre of the analyses of social scientists. Based on an ethnographical fieldwork in a French cancer genetics clinic, this article aims to show that many dimensions of the practical issues of disclosure to family can be fruitfully addressed through the temporal lens of kairos. Relying on the case of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk, it firstly highlights the existence of a mismatch between the “chronological” time of prevention proposed by professionals and the “kairological” time of disclosure lived by informants. Secondly, it emphasizes the problematic nature of the pragmatic approach of time associated with kairos. On the one hand one can draw some benefits from seeking the right time to inform relatives, but on the other hand waiting on uncertain opportunities to disclose such information can make communication even more difficult.

Suggested Citation

  • Derbez, Benjamin, 2018. "Is there a “right time” for bad news? Kairos in familial communication on hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 13-19.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:202:y:2018:i:c:p:13-19
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.02.022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618300789
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.02.022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huniche, Lotte, 2011. "Moral landscapes and everyday life in families with Huntington's disease: Aligning ethnographic description and bioethics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(11), pages 1810-1816, June.
    2. Geelen, Els & Van Hoyweghen, Ine & Horstman, Klasien, 2011. "Making genetics not so important: Family work in dealing with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(11), pages 1752-1759, June.
    3. Dean, Marleah, 2016. "“It’s not if I get cancer, it’s when I get cancer”: BRCA-positive patients’ (un)certain health experiences regarding hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 21-27.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Petersson, Jesper & Backman, Christel, 2022. "Patient-accessible online health records: Reconfigurations of clinical rhythms and doctors’ front- and backstage spaces," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    2. Rauscher, Emily A. & Dean, Marleah & Campbell-Salome, Gemme & Barbour, Joshua B., 2019. "“How do we rally around the one who was positive?” Familial uncertainty management in the context of men managing BRCA-related cancer risks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Buchbinder, Mara & Timmermans, Stefan, 2011. "Newborn screening and maternal diagnosis: Rethinking family benefit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(7), pages 1014-1018.
    2. Sheikh, Zainab Afshan & Jensen, Anja M.B., 2019. "Channeling hope: An ethnographic study of how research encounters become meaningful for families suffering from genetic disease in Pakistan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 103-110.
    3. Rauscher, Emily A. & Dean, Marleah & Campbell-Salome, Gemme & Barbour, Joshua B., 2019. "“How do we rally around the one who was positive?” Familial uncertainty management in the context of men managing BRCA-related cancer risks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    4. Boardman, Felicity & Clark, Corinna, 2022. "‘We're kind of like genetic nomads': Parents' experiences of biographical disruption and uncertainty following in/conclusive results from newborn cystic fibrosis screening," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    5. Flanagan, Kathleen, 2022. "‘A medical case history … ’: Huntington’s disease and psychiatry," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    6. Dimond, Rebecca & Doheny, Shane & Ballard, Lisa & Clarke, Angus, 2022. "Genetic testing and family entanglements," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:202:y:2018:i:c:p:13-19. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.