Socializing Pathogen Genomics: Using Animated Video Storytelling in Qualitative Bioethics Research about Scaling Up Sequencing for Tuberculosis in Botswana

Visual storytelling can be a powerful tool for exploring ethical issues raised by novel technologies. This paper describes the development, use of, and participants’ responses to, an animated video series for a qualitative study on the views of Botswana-based tuberculosis (TB) stakeholders regarding potential ethical issues raised by a hypothetical scale-up of next-generation whole genome sequencing (NG-WGS) into Botswana’s TB program. TB sequencing has been promoted by global health agencies, creating a need to assess stakeholders’ views. The videos told the story of a fictional family that experienced TB diagnoses, treatments, and contact tracing informed by sequencing. The videos helped participants with little to no prior knowledge develop informed opinions about NG-WGS. We argue that the use of narrative visual arts in empirical bioethics research can create environments for rich discussion. Our videos contributed to socializing TB NG-WGS in Botswana, facilitating explorations of complex ethical issues and demonstrating support for implementation.