Evelyn Parsons
Biographic Data
| ID | 3603499 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Evelyn Parsons |
| GIVEN NAMES | Evelyn |
| FAMILY NAME | Parsons |
| SIGNATURE | PARSONS E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wales |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 99 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Professional constructions of family and kinship in medical genetics
Based on a period of ethnographic fieldwork among geneticists, the paper explores how clinicians and scientists construct families as objects of discourse. It documents how the family is constructed as a social object and as a set of biological relationships. The professional work of geneticists thus traverses the boundaries of the natural and the social. The pedigree, or family tree, is a boundary object between those two discursive domains
Professional constructions of family and kinship in medical genetics
Reassurance through surveillance in the face of clinical uncertainty
OBJECTIVE: To identify the main issues raised by clinicians when they are counselling women at risk of breast cancer and explore the response of a group of women 1 year after counselling. DESIGN: A qualitative study which involved the thematic analysis of a series of transcripts from clinical consultations, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. PARTICIPANTS: First, a series of clinical consultations (n=153), involving seven clinicians, wer…
Trajectories of Collaboration and Competition in a Medical Discovery
In 1991, the myotonic dystrophy gene was cloned by researchers from Cardiff, London, and elsewhere overseas. This article examines the relationships between the different research groups. It shows that the scientific collaboration on the myotonic dystrophy research was not a constant, stable feature of scientific progress but a process whereby the relationships among the scientists altered over time according to the stage of the research. This pr…
Culture and Genetics
It was in 1962, during a row between F.R. Leavis and C.P. Snow, that the phrase ‘two cultures’ was used to distinguish what was defined as an ‘unbridgeable’ gulf between the grand dukes of science and the shabby curates of the arts. More recently, during a heated exchange at the British Association of Science (in 1994), Professors Francis Collins and Lewis Wolpert revisited the debate with the traditional arguments being made that art is too vagu…
Culture, Kinship and Genes
The first comprehensive attempt to explore the issues raised by genetic counselling across cultures. It will be of interest to health professionals and to students and lecturers in the social, behavio
The rhetoric of prediction and chance in the research to clone a disease gene
The Career of a Medical Discovery
Myotonic Dystrophy is the most common form of adult muscular dystrophy and is characterized by muscle wasting and weakness. In 1991, the disease gene was cloned and sequenced by scientists in Cardiff, London, and else-where overseas. Whereas most studies of scientific breakthrough stop at the point of the "discovery," this article describes research that explored scientists' accounts of the career of that breakthrough, tracing the research within…
Genetic Risk and Reproduction
Research was conducted with women who had experience of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (Duchenne) in the family. Intensive, qualitative interviews were conducted with a two-generational sample of women. This paper concentrates on the reported experiences of women who became pregnant while being aware of medically defined genetic carrier risk. Three types of reproductive decision-making are identified: risk-taking, risk-refusing and risk modifying. I…
Lay constructions of genetic risk
The paper reports one aspect of research on women (mothers and daughters) in families with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (Duchenne), a genetically transmitted disorder. The data were collected by means of extended unstructured interviews with the women, all of whom had had either a brother or a son who had inherited the disease. All the women have been defined by medical professionals as having a specific ‘risk’ of carrying and transmitting the def…
Lay constructions of genetic risk
The paper reports one aspect of research on women (mothers and daughters) in families with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (Duchenne), a genetically transmitted disorder. The data were collected by means of extended unstructured interviews with the women, all of whom had had either a brother or a son who had inherited the disease. All the women have been defined by medical professionals as having a specific ‘risk’ of carrying and transmitting the def…
Genetic Risk and Reproduction
Research was conducted with women who had experience of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (Duchenne) in the family. Intensive, qualitative interviews were conducted with a two-generational sample of women. This paper concentrates on the reported experiences of women who became pregnant while being aware of medically defined genetic carrier risk. Three types of reproductive decision-making are identified: risk-taking, risk-refusing and risk modifying. I…
Trajectories of Collaboration and Competition in a Medical Discovery
In 1991, the myotonic dystrophy gene was cloned by researchers from Cardiff, London, and elsewhere overseas. This article examines the relationships between the different research groups. It shows that the scientific collaboration on the myotonic dystrophy research was not a constant, stable feature of scientific progress but a process whereby the relationships among the scientists altered over time according to the stage of the research. This pr…
The rhetoric of prediction and chance in the research to clone a disease gene
Lay constructions of genetic risk
The paper reports one aspect of research on women (mothers and daughters) in families with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (Duchenne), a genetically transmitted disorder. The data were collected by means of extended unstructured interviews with the women, all of whom had had either a brother or a son who had inherited the disease. All the women have been defined by medical professionals as having a specific ‘risk’ of carrying and transmitting the def…
Genetic Risk and Reproduction
Research was conducted with women who had experience of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (Duchenne) in the family. Intensive, qualitative interviews were conducted with a two-generational sample of women. This paper concentrates on the reported experiences of women who became pregnant while being aware of medically defined genetic carrier risk. Three types of reproductive decision-making are identified: risk-taking, risk-refusing and risk modifying. I…
The Career of a Medical Discovery
Myotonic Dystrophy is the most common form of adult muscular dystrophy and is characterized by muscle wasting and weakness. In 1991, the disease gene was cloned and sequenced by scientists in Cardiff, London, and else-where overseas. Whereas most studies of scientific breakthrough stop at the point of the "discovery," this article describes research that explored scientists' accounts of the career of that breakthrough, tracing the research within…
Culture and Genetics
It was in 1962, during a row between F.R. Leavis and C.P. Snow, that the phrase ‘two cultures’ was used to distinguish what was defined as an ‘unbridgeable’ gulf between the grand dukes of science and the shabby curates of the arts. More recently, during a heated exchange at the British Association of Science (in 1994), Professors Francis Collins and Lewis Wolpert revisited the debate with the traditional arguments being made that art is too vagu…
Culture, Kinship and Genes
The first comprehensive attempt to explore the issues raised by genetic counselling across cultures. It will be of interest to health professionals and to students and lecturers in the social, behavio
The rhetoric of prediction and chance in the research to clone a disease gene
Trajectories of Collaboration and Competition in a Medical Discovery
In 1991, the myotonic dystrophy gene was cloned by researchers from Cardiff, London, and elsewhere overseas. This article examines the relationships between the different research groups. It shows that the scientific collaboration on the myotonic dystrophy research was not a constant, stable feature of scientific progress but a process whereby the relationships among the scientists altered over time according to the stage of the research. This pr…
Reassurance through surveillance in the face of clinical uncertainty
OBJECTIVE: To identify the main issues raised by clinicians when they are counselling women at risk of breast cancer and explore the response of a group of women 1 year after counselling. DESIGN: A qualitative study which involved the thematic analysis of a series of transcripts from clinical consultations, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. PARTICIPANTS: First, a series of clinical consultations (n=153), involving seven clinicians, wer…
Professional constructions of family and kinship in medical genetics
Based on a period of ethnographic fieldwork among geneticists, the paper explores how clinicians and scientists construct families as objects of discourse. It documents how the family is constructed as a social object and as a set of biological relationships. The professional work of geneticists thus traverses the boundaries of the natural and the social. The pedigree, or family tree, is a boundary object between those two discursive domains
Professional constructions of family and kinship in medical genetics
Sociology (8 works) · Biology (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Genetics (5 works) · BRCA gene mutations in cancer (4 works) · Race, Genetics, and Society (4 works) · Anthropology (3 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Epistemology (3 works) · Genetic Neurodegenerative Diseases (3 works)