Patterns of cancer-related internet searches: reactiveness; risks; the role of affect

Résumé 0

"The popularization of ICTs and the availability of information have not influenced the habits of prevention - cancers are lately di - agnosed, as before in the scarcity of information era. This paper analyzes patterns of accesses to the National Cancer Institute website (already de - scribed in previous articles) as well as contradic - tions between the purposes and results of cancer prevention campaigns. We identified a reactive pattern of queries which was indifferent to infor - mation on prevention, but interested in treatment technologies and news about celebrity’s diseases. These findings contrast with the paradigm of the best data for decision making, based in the heter - onomy of “banking education”, its means and effi - cacy. We discussthe symbolic power of campaigns under the theoretical framework of emotional heuristic models - analytical tools rarely employed in studies of risks, but here considered essential el - ements to the comprehention of public perception of health. Ambiguities are portrayed and as well as its pendulum between certainties and uncer - tainties in the midst on which they are formed. It is discussed the risk tripartition – as perception, analysis and policy, the latest posed as a public clash between the first concerning the major risks aligned to their historical circumstances ."