The Power of the Media in Health Communication [electronic Resource].

Health is a contested concept that has been defined in numerous ways. The media is extremely powerful in promoting health beliefs and in creating role models for contemporary people. The ways in which health is defined or understood can have wide-ranging implications and can have an impact on issues such as health promotion or health literacy. Health presentation in the media has a significant social impact because this type of message is important in changing people's beliefs, attitudes and behaviours relating to health and in promoting health-related knowledge among the target audience. The present volume provides an interdisciplinary and multicultural contemporary approach to the controversial link between medicine and media. The authors that have contributed to this volume analyse the media and medicine from different perspectives and different countries (USA, UK, Portugal, Turkey, Taiwan, Mexico, Estonia, Romania), thus offering a re-positioning of the study of media and medicine. The new perspectives offered by this volume will be of interest to any health communication or media studies student or academic since they bring to light new ideas, new methodologies and new results. The Power of the Media in Health Communication- Front Cover 1 The Power of the Media in Health Communication 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 List of figures 8 List of tables 9 Notes on contributors 11 Foreword 16 Introduction: emerging trends in media and health research 18 Part I: Representation of health and illness in mass media 19 Part II: Mediations of doctor–patient communication 20 Part III: Journalists’ discourses about health 21 Part III: Internet and health 22 References 24 PART I: Representations of health and illness in mass media 26 Chapter 1: Depressing news: obesity panic, reflexive embodiment and teen mental health in the USA 28 Introduction 28 Medicalization of the body and the mental health of teens 33 Conclusion 41 Note 42 References 42 Chapter 2: Media coverage of the Ebola Virus Disease: a content analytical study of The Guardian and Daily Trust newspapers 46 Introduction 46 Rationale for the study 47 Research objectives 47 Review of literature 48 Theoretical framework 51 Research methodology 51 Data presentation and analyses 52 Findings 55 Conclusion 56 Recommendations 57 Acknowledgements 57 Note 58 References 58 Chapter 3: Media representations of anorexia: between medical discourse and show biz 60 From saints to stars 62 Methodology 64 Results 65 Conclusion 67 Notes 67 References 68 Chapter 4: From germs to ghosts: the politics of naming an epidemic 71 What’s in a word? 72 What’s in a name? 73 News making: gatekeeping and profit maximization 75 Research methods 78 Analysis of results 79 Conclusion 84 Acknowledgements 84 Note 84 References 84 PART II: Mediations of doctor–patient communication 88 Chapter 5: Patients’ interpretations of CAM-related information: manoeuvring between patient and consumer positionings 90 Introduction 90 Problem setting 90 Theoretical and methodological framework 93 The study method and source of empirical evidence 95 Results 97 Conclusions and discussion 103 Acknowledgements 105 References 105 Chapter 6: ‘Alone with my illness’: stories about chronic disease in Romania 108 Introduction 108 The general theoretical background 109 The research method and the set of data 111 Results analysis 111 The disease: an unexpected thing 113 The loss of control over one’s own life 116 The doctor: an absent character or an enemy? 118 Conclusions 119 References 120 PART III: Journalists’ discourses about health 124 Chapter 7: Health journalism practices in Portuguese newsrooms: an assessment of journalists’ perceptions 126 Introduction 126 Literature review 126 Methodology 129 Results and discussion 130 To specialize or not to specialize? 136 Aiming at good health information 136 Final remarks 137 Acknowledgements 138 Notes 138 References 138 Chapter 8: What the media and health professions think about the health content of the me 140 Introduction 140 Theoretical background 140 Methodology 142 Results analysis 143 Does the information conveyed and the messages sent properly address the subjects under consideration? 148 Conclusions 157 Acknowledgements 159 References 159 PART IV: Internet and health 160 Chapter 9: Health in the digital era: searching health information online 162 Introduction 162 Health literacy and eHealth literacy 163 Online health information search 164 Methodology 165 Results and discussion 165 Conclusion 169 References 170 Chapter 10: The web in healthcare: a new psychologist? Trends of searching the web for depression syndrome 174 Introduction 174 Framework 175 Methodology 178 Analysis and results 180 Discussion 183 Conclusion 183 Notes 184 References 184 Chapter 11: Teenagers, risk behaviours and the use of new technologies for health 186 Introduction 186 Teenagers and the use of new technologies for health information: previous studies 187 Method 188 Findings 189 Discussion, limits and conclusions 192 Acknowledgements 195 References 195 Conclusion: Media and health – Where do we go from here? 198 References 201 Index 203