National Home Office, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, USA.
J Am Acad Dermatol. 2012 Oct;67(4):570-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2011.11.920. Epub 2012 Jan 10.
Little is known about the coverage of skin cancer prevention messages in news print media.
To perform a content analysis of mass-media articles from newspaper and magazines pertaining to skin cancer prevention in 4 specific months (January, May, July, and October) in 2009 and assess the extent of coverage of skin cancer prevention messages.
We conducted a content analysis of 144 articles related to skin cancer prevention extracted from strategic media scans of selected months in 2009. We sought to provide the frequency of mass-media content categorized by theme and focus related to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) protection and risk-reducing behaviors.
The audience for the vast majority (78%) of the articles was the general public. Among the assessed articles, more were published in May (49%) and July (35%) than in the remaining other months. The two most frequent themes focused on 'protection of the skin' (32%) and on 'skin cancer prevention' (23%) via risk reduction behavioral practices. Analysis of message content regarding UVR reduction practices showed that many mentioned 'use of sunscreen' (65% of messages) with the least-often mentioned behaviors being 'seek shade' (6.3%) and 'do not burn' (1.4%). In addition, a quarter of the articles lacked any content mentioning recommended UVR reduction behaviors.
This study was limited to the narrow scope of articles published in 2009 and for selected months.
This profile of mass-media content regarding skin cancer prevention revealed gaps in coverage of UVR reduction behaviors with possible room for improvement. Strategies for improving and comprehensiveness of coverage of recommended skin cancer prevention behaviors in the media are discussed.
关于皮肤癌预防信息在新闻印刷媒体中的报道情况，人们知之甚少。
对 2009 年 4 个特定月份（1 月、5 月、7 月和 10 月）的报纸和杂志中的大众媒体文章进行内容分析，评估皮肤癌预防信息的报道范围。
我们对 2009 年选定月份的战略媒体扫描中提取的与皮肤癌预防相关的 144 篇文章进行了内容分析。我们试图按主题和重点（与紫外线辐射[UVR]防护和降低风险行为相关）对大众媒体内容进行分类，并提供其出现频率。
绝大多数文章（78%）的受众是公众。在所评估的文章中，5 月（49%）和 7 月（35%）的文章比其他月份的文章多。两个最常见的主题是“保护皮肤”（32%）和“通过降低风险行为预防皮肤癌”（23%）。对减少 UVR 实践的信息内容进行分析后发现，许多文章提到了“使用防晒霜”（65%的信息），而最不常提到的行为是“寻找阴凉处”（6.3%）和“不晒伤”（1.4%）。此外，四分之一的文章没有任何内容提到推荐的减少 UVR 行为。
本研究仅限于 2009 年发表的文章和选定月份的文章。
本研究对大众媒体有关皮肤癌预防内容的分析揭示了减少 UVR 行为的报道存在差距，有可能需要改进。讨论了在媒体中改进和全面报道推荐的皮肤癌预防行为的策略。
