Medical research meets personal testimonial: the politics of communicating experimental data in a media-saturated culture

摘要

This work examines a specific genre for conveying health information in popular women's periodicals. Through the health testimonial, readers are introduced to women's stories regarding illness, and in the process, often receive information that distorts available medical evidence about particular diseases. A sample health testimonial focusing on breast cancer is analyzed and possible reader responses to this text are considered.