Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, 20123, Milan, Italy.
Department of Biomedical, Metabolic, and Neural Sciences, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125, Modena, Italy.
J Clin Sleep Med. 2022 Jul 1;18(7):1769-1778. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.9966.
The media are the primary sources of information about health for the public. The media portrayal of narcolepsy might contribute to the stigmatization of people affected by this condition. This study aimed to describe how narcolepsy is portrayed in newspapers.
We collected 257 newspaper articles from the digital archive of published between 1980 and 2020 that mentioned key search terms. The content was assessed using an ad hoc coding schema developed to evaluate the presence of sensationalistic title, negative language, stigmatizing content, stereotypical description, disclosure of a person diagnosed with narcolepsy, person with narcolepsy described as dangerous, presence of an accurate diagnosis, identifiable symptoms, indications about diagnostic and treatment services. Chi-square analysis was performed to identify changes over time in the type of content.
In 10.9% of the articles, there was a sensationalistic title; inappropriate, negative, and outdated language appeared in 10.5% of the articles. Stigmatizing and stereotypical content was reported in 19.5% and 14.8% of the articles, respectively. In 62.3% of the articles, it was disclosed that a person had narcolepsy, and in 5.1% of the articles patients with narcolepsy were described as dangerous. The presence of an accurate diagnosis was referred to in 30.4% of the articles, while 16.7% described identifiable symptoms. Services for diagnosis and treatment were mentioned in 24.1% of the articles. Changes over time in the content of articles are discussed.
Our findings highlight areas for improvement in the media portrayal of narcolepsy and could help guide the development of new targeted anti-stigma campaigns.
Varallo G, Pingani L, Musetti A, et al. Portrayals of narcolepsy from 1980 to 2020: a descriptive analysis of stigmatizing content in newspaper articles. . 2022;18(7):1769-1778.
媒体是公众获取健康信息的主要来源。媒体对嗜睡症的描述可能导致人们对受这种疾病影响的人产生污名化。本研究旨在描述报纸上如何描述嗜睡症。
我们从 1980 年至 2020 年期间出版的数字档案中收集了 257 篇报纸文章，这些文章提到了关键搜索词。使用专门制定的编码方案评估内容，以评估耸人听闻的标题、负面语言、污名化内容、刻板描述、披露被诊断患有嗜睡症的人、被描述为危险的嗜睡症患者、准确诊断、可识别症状、有关诊断和治疗服务的信息是否存在。进行卡方分析以确定随时间变化的内容类型。
在 10.9%的文章中，有耸人听闻的标题；10.5%的文章使用了不恰当、负面和过时的语言。19.5%和 14.8%的文章分别报道了污名化和刻板化的内容。在 62.3%的文章中，披露了一个人患有嗜睡症，在 5.1%的文章中，患有嗜睡症的患者被描述为危险。30.4%的文章提到了准确的诊断，16.7%的文章描述了可识别的症状。24.1%的文章提到了诊断和治疗服务。讨论了文章内容随时间的变化。
我们的研究结果强调了在媒体对嗜睡症的描述方面需要改进的地方，并可能有助于指导新的有针对性的反污名运动的发展。
Varallo G, Pingani L, Musetti A, et al. Portrayals of narcolepsy from 1980 to 2020: a descriptive analysis of stigmatizing content in newspaper articles.. 2022;18(7):1769-1778.
