Respondents were not sure how to react to being at risk emotionally, and were not given clear instructions on how to address their risk status. Respondents were simply unsure how to act. Beyond an inability to accept being at risk and to understand appropriate social roles, respondents were left with questions about their health that risk numbers left unanswered. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of risk is that it is intended to definitively, numerically, measure the probability of adverse outcomes and provide a tool for management.

Gene also explained it as follows: It’s sort of like – it’s a combination between a trip wire booby trap and a time bomb . . A trip wire booby trap but if you don’t trip the wire, it doesn’t go off. So, if you watch your cholesterol, then you should be fine. However, there’s the time bomb part . . that part you can’t do anything about. Thinking of elevated cholesterol as something within the body that could explode was also related to a sense of cholesterol leading to a heart attack. The embodiment of risk made it difficult for respondents to maintain an identity as a healthy person.

And then once I had the . . blood test and waiting for the results I think about it everyday’. The period between receiving the PSA test and receiving the results was a very anxious time for many respondents, and being at risk was much more pervasive in their immediate thoughts during those times. Identity and embodiment The lack of symptoms associated with elevated cholesterol or PSA levels, as well as with many other risk factors, seemed to intensify the pervasiveness of respondents’ risk status as they were unable to determine their individual risk without undergoing additional screening tests.