Opinion
Talking health risk: do cultural considerations matter?
By Rukhsana Ahmed May 9, 2016
In a multicultural society like Canada, paying attention to nuanced beliefs and practices can help inform how a health message is received, read, and acted on by the target audience. This knowledge about health decision-making at the individual level can offer insights for public health decision-making at the policy level.
OTTAWA—Last week, I participated in a workshop where experts and practitioners representing different academic disciplines and policy fields came together to explore issues related to risk management and evidence-based decision-making. I left the meeting with two thoughts percolating in my head: We are, indeed, inhabitants of what German sociologist Ulrich Beck coined a ‘‘risk society.” And, to my dismay, we are yet to have a meeting of minds between the fact-based scientists/experts and the value-based public.
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