Representations on mental health in the media in Portugal
Representations on mental health in the media in Portugal
The study results from a partnership between the Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa (ICS-ULisboa) and EUTIMIA – Aliança Europeia Contra a Depressão em Portugal (http://eutimia.pt/), wich is part of EAAD – European Alliance Against Depression (EAAD.PT) . It is based on the assumption that the information circulating in the public sphere on mental health can contribute to obtaining knowledge about the illness and for the promotion of health and well-being behaviours, and it can also be an important source, among others, with power to influence opinions and attitudes about the various aspects of mental health, particularly in the deconstruction or perpetuation of stigmatizing stereotypes (social stigma and internalized stigma) regarding mental illness and patients with different pathologies.
Research on media content allows, on the one hand, to highlight the information characteristics and discursive patterns that can influence the acquisition of knowledge, opinions and attitudes about mental health and, on the other hand, provide indications on how these topics are handled from the point of view of journalistic work and its editorial criteria and values, which can help to define recommendations and strategies in a joint work between mental health specialists and the media, in order to improve contents in order to obtain health gains. In this sense, this research aimed to study the representations and thematization of mental health in the press in Portugal for a period of five years (2011-2015), where the editorial characteristics are analysed and how this information is constructed and framed journalistically - either in the contents that approach mental health as main themes, or secondarily associated with other topics that refer to them in the overall information that is published - , which pathologies are most prominent and how are the patients portrayed, what symptoms, causes and treatments are described, how access to health care is addressed within and outside the scope of mental health, what information exists about disease prevention and promotion of mental health, how the overall information on health and mental illness is assessed. The visibility of the theme of suicide and its discursive attributes is also studied in greater detail.
Mental health, Mass media, Social representations, Health literacy
The study results from a partnership between the Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa (ICS-ULisboa) and EUTIMIA – Aliança Europeia Contra a Depressão em Portugal (http://eutimia.pt/), wich is part of EAAD – European Alliance Against Depression (EAAD.PT) . It is based on the assumption that the information circulating in the public sphere on mental health can contribute to obtaining knowledge about the illness and for the promotion of health and well-being behaviours, and it can also be an important source, among others, with power to influence opinions and attitudes about the various aspects of mental health, particularly in the deconstruction or perpetuation of stigmatizing stereotypes (social stigma and internalized stigma) regarding mental illness and patients with different pathologies.
Research on media content allows, on the one hand, to highlight the information characteristics and discursive patterns that can influence the acquisition of knowledge, opinions and attitudes about mental health and, on the other hand, provide indications on how these topics are handled from the point of view of journalistic work and its editorial criteria and values, which can help to define recommendations and strategies in a joint work between mental health specialists and the media, in order to improve contents in order to obtain health gains. In this sense, this research aimed to study the representations and thematization of mental health in the press in Portugal for a period of five years (2011-2015), where the editorial characteristics are analysed and how this information is constructed and framed journalistically - either in the contents that approach mental health as main themes, or secondarily associated with other topics that refer to them in the overall information that is published - , which pathologies are most prominent and how are the patients portrayed, what symptoms, causes and treatments are described, how access to health care is addressed within and outside the scope of mental health, what information exists about disease prevention and promotion of mental health, how the overall information on health and mental illness is assessed. The visibility of the theme of suicide and its discursive attributes is also studied in greater detail.
