COPE Consumer Medicine: Philosophical and Ethical Implications

Consumer Medicine (CM) is gaining momentum through wearables and tests that are marketed directly to consumers with a promise to help users take control of their health. COPE is an empirically informed philosophical analysis of how self-monitoring and self-testing for health optimisation impact healthcare and how health is experienced and strived for in a data-intensive society.

Companies and policymakers stress the potential of CM to improve disease prevention. Yet, concerns are raised about the scientific validity of CM and the risk of medicalizing healthy people. There is a need to explore how CM technologies impact experiences of health and expectations of medicine.

Combining methodologies from philosophy of science and medical anthropology, COPE critically analyzes assumptions underlying political and commercial visions of CM, as well as lived experiences of CM in primary care and the everyday lives of users. The COPE project relies on empirical research methodologies, including qualitative interviews, ethnographic observations, and document analysis.

Funded by:

COPE has received three years of funding from Carlsbergfondet

Semper Ardens: Accelerate

Project: Consumer Medicine: Philosophical and Ethical Impliations (COPE)  
Period:  2024-2027

Contact

Sara Green: sara.green@ind.ku.dk 

Olivia Spalletta: olivia.spalletta@ind.ku.dk

Members: