Chinese Newspapers’ Coverage of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) from 2008 to 2018: A Content Analysis of News Framing and Portrayals of Health Risks and Stigma.

Chinese Newspapers’ Coverage of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) from 2008 to 2018: A Content Analysis of News Framing and Portrayals of Health Risks and Stigma.

Abstract: As the first study of Chinese newspaper coverage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) over the past decade (2008-2018), this paper analyzed how different categories of Chinese newspaper media (Party press, City press, and special interests and industry oriented press) framed AD related health belief information (e.g., susceptibility and severity) and stigma over time. A total of 419 newspaper articles on AD were content analyzed. Findings indicate that Chinese newspapers provided inadequate and incomplete health belief information on AD. Findings also indicate the tendency of increasing episodic framing, of inverted V-shape of stigmatization of labeling human differences and the V-shape of stigmatization of negative image over time, and of increasing family stigma mentioned. Recommendations for health media professionals and health communication practitioners on AD coverage and AD health information dissemination were further provided.

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