Investigating prenatal genetic screening in Hong Kong as a discourse and an activity type

Abstract

In this colloquia we take a discourse analytic perspective and examine prenatal genetic screening (PGS) in Hong Kong. Available discourse studies of PGS have focused on monolingual (predominantly English) discourse. In this colloquia we examine Hong Kong data where PGS involve participants with diverse sociocultural backgrounds. These intercultural encounters present challenges to healthcare providers: clients bring in different cultural perceptions toward issues of, for example, having a child with genetic abnormalities or termination of pregnancy; they also display various language proficiency and levels of understanding. Our panel builds on a large-scale study of PGC in Hong Kong. Currently our data comprise over 100 patients originating from various parts of Asia-Pacific Rim, Europe and the USA. The study involves academic collaboration between linguists and healthcare providers around the world (Hong Kong, the UK and the US). Our objectives in this panel are two-fold: first, drawing on the concepts of activity type (as 'means of characterizing setting‘) and discourse type (as ‘way of characterizing the way of talk‘) (Sarangi 2000) we aim to depict how PGS is enacted discursively in the intercultural context of Hong Kong. Secondly, we discuss how the diverse sociocultural backgrounds of both healthcare providers and clients impact on the three ‘crucial activities‘ (Sarangi 2000) of genetic counseling, namely, information-giving, advice seeking and decision-making. Through a detailed analysis of PGS, we hope to get a better understanding of the complex relationship between the sociocultural context, the background of the participants and the accomplishment of the PGS activities in situ.