Cox Susan M, Kazubowski-Houston Magdalena, Nisker Jeff
University of British Columbia, The W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2.
Soc Sci Med. 2009 Apr;68(8):1472-80. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.01.044. Epub 2009 Feb 21.
Arts-based approaches to public engagement offer unique advantages over traditional methods of consultation. Here we describe and assess our use of theatre as a method of public engagement in the development of health policy on preimplantation genetic diagnosis, a controversial method for selecting the genetic characteristics of embryos created through in vitro fertilization. Funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and Health Canada supported 16 performances of the play Orchids in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montréal and post-performance discussion in English and French (with Hubert Doucet) in 2005. A total of 741 individuals attended. The methods used to assess audience engagement and elicit policy-relevant dialogue included in-theatre observation of audience responses, moderated post-performance large audience discussion and focus groups, audience feedback forms and researcher fieldnotes. Emphasizing process and context over emerging outcomes, we reflect on the distinctive contributions of theatre in stimulating public engagement and the need to utilize multiple methods to adequately assess these contributions. We suggest continued dialogue about the possible uses of theatre in health policy development and conclude that greater clarity is needed with regard to citizens' (as well as specific stakeholders, policy makers' and sponsors') desired outcomes if there is to be a suitably nuanced and reflexive basis for assessing the effectiveness of various strategies for public engagement.
与传统的咨询方法相比，基于艺术的公众参与方法具有独特的优势。在此，我们描述并评估了我们如何利用戏剧作为一种公众参与方法，来制定关于胚胎植入前基因诊断的卫生政策。胚胎植入前基因诊断是一种通过体外受精来选择胚胎遗传特征的有争议的方法。加拿大卫生研究院和加拿大卫生部提供的资金支持了2005年在温哥华、多伦多和蒙特利尔上演的16场名为《兰花》的戏剧演出，以及演出后的英法双语（与于贝尔·杜塞合作）讨论。共有741人参加。用于评估观众参与度并引发与政策相关对话的方法包括在剧场内观察观众反应、演出后由主持人引导的大型观众讨论和焦点小组讨论、观众反馈表以及研究人员的现场记录。我们强调过程和背景而非新出现的结果，反思戏剧在促进公众参与方面的独特贡献，以及需要运用多种方法来充分评估这些贡献。我们建议就戏剧在卫生政策制定中的可能用途持续展开对话，并得出结论：如果要有一个适当细致入微且能进行反思的基础来评估各种公众参与策略的有效性，就需要更明确公民（以及特定利益相关者、政策制定者和赞助商）期望的结果。
