title: Patterns of cancer-related internet searches: reactiveness; risks; the role of affect.
abstract: The popularization of ICTs and the availability of information have not influenced the habits of prevention - cancers are lately diagnosed, as before in the scarcity of information era. This paper analyzes patterns of accesses to the National Cancer Institute website (already described in previous articles) as well as contradictions between the purposes and results of cancer prevention campaigns. We identified a reactive pattern of queries which was indifferent to information on prevention, but interested in treatment technologies and news about celebrity's diseases. These findings contrast with the paradigm of the best data for decision making, based in the heteronomy of "banking education", its means and efficacy. We discussthe symbolic power of campaigns under the theoretical framework of emotional heuristic models - analytical tools rarely employed in studies of risks, but here considered essential elements to the comprehention of public perception of health. Ambiguities are portrayed and as well as its pendulum between certainties and uncertainties in the midst on which they are formed. It is discussed the risk tripartition - as perception, analysis and policy, the latest posed as a public clash between the first concerning the major risks aligned to their historical circumstances.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Inovações Terapêuticas, Ensino e Bioprodutos, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil, p.vasconcellos@pq.cnpq.br.
authors.forename: Paulo Roberto Vasconcellos
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Luis David
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Castiel
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Nutrição, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
authors.forename: Franciso Romão
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D009369:Neoplasms; D012306:Risk