This paper examines utilization of risk and responsibility discourses within FASD public health promotion messages. In this qualitative case study, using data from 23 semi-structured interviews with those in charge of managing FASD and document analysis, I examine discourses invoked within FASD prevention and awareness campaigns deployed by the province of Alberta, Canada. The research findings demonstrate that within such FASD discourses, the unborn child is depicted as at-risk and the woman carrying the child is seen as being responsible for creating this risk. This is possible due to the neo-liberal tenet of individualism that occludes the structural factors that contribute to alcohol consumption and, perhaps FASD itself. This research on FASD is distinct from other studies on risk and responsibility because it recognizes and explores the separation of bodies that are considered to be at "risk" from those that are deemed to be "responsible" for creating such risk. This paper concludes with an in-depth discussion on the implications of using discourses of risk and responsibility within FASD prevention campaigns.
This article examines the processes through which health disorders become accepted as a public health concern, and the defining role played by social actors responsible for bringing such disorders to public attention. Such analysis provides us with a particular history of health disorders and the implications of this early history in the current conceptualization of such disorders within contemporary health programs and policies. This article traces the emergence and acceptance of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) as a public health concern in Alberta and the ongoing tensions resulting from this early history. Specifically, the author examines the integral role of social workers and various government officials in getting FASD recognized as a health concern. This Alberta case study demonstrates the importance of investigating the sociopolitical context in which health disorders emerge and become accepted.
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