A qualitative content analysis of the representations of health, income and income distribution in the Canadian press.
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Abstract: For both the lay public and policy makers, the media are an important source of health \ninformation. While media discourses about health are not uniform, some perspectives are more \ncommonly reported than others. In reviewing Canadian media on health, the biomedical, the \nlifestyle, and the social determinants? models of disease aetiology can all be found; however, \nmore critical components of the social determinants? model, such as income and income \ndistribution, receive limited attention. Income and its distribution is a key social determinant of \nhealth because of its interconnectedness with many other health determinants, yet it remains an \nunderreported theme in media discourse. Using a qualitative content analysis, this study \nexamines the relationship between health, income and its distribution as represented in two major \nnational Canadian newspapers. \nMy findings illustrate that in such agenda-setting Canadian newspapers, the relationship \nbetween health, income and income distribution was not presented as a salient determinant of \nhealth. This was manifest through low frequency of coverage, article positioning and news \narticle structure. Health researchers and health care professionals contributed little to the \ndiscussion of the health-income relationship within Canadian media. When the relationship was \nacknowledged, it was journalists themselves who attempted to move the agenda forward. The \nresponsibility and burden for this complex relationship was primarily positioned from a systemic \nperspective. While the focus on social responsibilities rather than on individual responsibilities \nwas encouraging, the overall discussion of the health-income relationship was located primarily \nwithin the access to health care debate; where poverty or low income was positioned as a barrier \nto access. These observations highlight tensions around current views of health and the challenges for policymakers, health researchers, health professionals and the lay public to move \naway from biomedical notions of health.
Author: Daphne A. Mayer
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2249393118