Holmberg Christopher
Department of Psychotic Disorders, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Institute of Health and Care Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Schizophr Bull Open. 2023 Jun 30;4(1):sgad018. doi: 10.1093/schizbullopen/sgad018. eCollection 2023 Jan.
Negative portrayals of schizophrenia in media can prompt the condition's stigmatization. However, because research on language stigmatizing schizophrenia has focused on paper-based media, its results have limited generalizability to contemporary media. Also, research on interventions to guide media professionals in accurately depicting schizophrenia has been scarce. The present study had two aims: (1) to assess how print, web, and radio/TV news media in Sweden portray schizophrenia and (2) to evaluate a campaign targeting media professionals' responses to information about schizophrenia and the consequences of stigmatizing language.
Using data from Retriever's database, considering media types and topics, the terms "schizophrenia" and "schizophrenic" were examined in the past 20 years, whereas analyses of stigmatizing reporting of these terms used media from the past 10 years. Media professionals' responses and actions in the anti-stigma information campaign StigmaWatch were also evaluated.
Between 2002 and 2022, "schizophrenia" was mentioned 34 141 times in the dataset and "schizophrenic" 10 058 times. However, no trends were statistically significant. All media topics and most types of media contained stigmatizing reporting. Of the 230 media professionals who received informative emails from StigmaWatch, 77 (33%) responded. Most responses were supportive, and 14% of the professionals reported taking corrective measures (eg, revising erroneous descriptions of schizophrenia) following the email.
No media topic was free of language stigmatizing schizophrenia. The anti-stigma information campaign seemed to have been effective, for most media professionals who responded were supportive, and a sizable proportion reported taking corrective measures.
媒体对精神分裂症的负面描述会促使该病被污名化。然而，由于关于污名化精神分裂症的语言研究主要集中在纸质媒体上，其结果对当代媒体的普遍适用性有限。此外，针对指导媒体专业人员准确描述精神分裂症的干预措施的研究也很少。本研究有两个目的：（1）评估瑞典的印刷媒体、网络媒体和广播/电视新闻媒体如何描述精神分裂症；（2）评估一项针对媒体专业人员对精神分裂症信息的反应以及污名化语言后果的活动。
利用来自Retriever数据库的数据，考虑媒体类型和主题，在过去20年中对“精神分裂症”和“精神分裂症患者”这两个术语进行了研究，而对这些术语的污名化报道分析则使用了过去10年的媒体数据。还评估了媒体专业人员在反污名化信息活动“污名观察”中的反应和行动。
在2002年至2022年期间，数据集中“精神分裂症”被提及34141次，“精神分裂症患者”被提及10058次。然而，没有趋势具有统计学意义。所有媒体主题和大多数媒体类型都包含污名化报道。在收到“污名观察”信息邮件的230名媒体专业人员中，77人（33%）做出了回应。大多数回应是支持性的，14%的专业人员报告在收到邮件后采取了纠正措施（例如，修改对精神分裂症的错误描述）。
没有一个媒体主题不存在污名化精神分裂症的语言。反污名化信息活动似乎是有效的，因为大多数做出回应的媒体专业人员都表示支持，并且有相当一部分人报告采取了纠正措施。
