Whose Lyme is it anyway? Subject positions and the construction of responsibility for managing the health risks from Lyme disease

There has been a significant increase during the last decade in the UK of the incidence of the Lyme disease. It is transmitted through tick bites, and can have serious health consequences if not treated early. This study examined how the responsibility for managing and communicating the health risks...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health & place 2012-09, Vol.18 (5), p.1101-1109
Main Authors: Uzzell, David, Vasileiou, Konstantina, Marcu, Afrodita, Barnett, Julie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Bites
Borrelia
Communication
Discourse
Diseases
Female
Forest parks
Forestry
Forests
Foucauldian discourse analysis
Health risks
Health technology assessment
Humans
Insects
Ixodidae
Labour force
Lyme disease
Lyme Disease - prevention & control
Male
Middle Aged
Occupational Diseases - prevention & control
Public Health
Qualitative Research
Recreation
Recreation areas
Responsibility
Risk
Social Responsibility
Tick bites and Lyme disease
United Kingdom
Visitors
Workers
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Summary:There has been a significant increase during the last decade in the UK of the incidence of the Lyme disease. It is transmitted through tick bites, and can have serious health consequences if not treated early. This study examined how the responsibility for managing and communicating the health risks from Lyme disease to forest workers and recreational visitors was constructed and acted upon by 21 interviewees in key managerial positions within one of the largest UK forestry organisations. The in-depth, semi-structured interviews were analysed using discourse analysis within a Foucauldian framework. The results demonstrated that the construction of responsibility towards the workforce and visitors was embedded into broader representations of the forest as a working, recreational and natural environment, as well as into the binary conceptualisation of forest hazards as natural and human-made. These constructions prescribed respective subject positions which differentially informed assumptions of responsibility, and consequent actions, towards the workforce and the public.
ISSN:1353-8292
1873-2054
DOI:10.1016/j.healthplace.2012.04.012