engleski

THE PICTURE OF MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE CZECH, SLOVAK AND CROATIAN PRINTED MEDIA

Background: The media are the public’s primary sources of information on those with mental illness. Many studies describing print media representations of mental illnesses have showed that these depictions are frequently negative and contribute to consequent stigmatization of people with mental illness. These public perceptions significantly impact the development and implementation of mental health reforms in post-Soviet countries. Objectives: 1) to develop a coding manual for the analysis of media messages featuring the topic of mental illness, and 2) analyze the content of the media messages about mental illness in terms of stigma in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Croatia. Methods: Articles containing key words pertaining to the topic of mental illness from 6 most widely read printed daily periodicals and 6 most widely read printed weekly periodicals in each country occurring during 5 separate weeks in 2007 were randomly selected for study. The keywords were chosen to obtain the sample of the articles. Four hundred and fifty (450) articles with mental illness as the main topic and were identified and coded using a coding manual developed by the research team. The coding manual includes both quantitative and qualitative information for the analysis of media messages featuring the topic of mental illness. Results: Negative global impressions from the text were found in the 37, 4% articles from Czech Republic, 38, 4% articles from Slovakia and 40, 0% articles from Croatia. Statistically significant differences were found among 3 countries in the distribution of articles associated with media type, the position of articles (covers), style (number of words, sensational seeking style), source of information, aggressive acts associated with psychiatric patients, stigmatizing headline and psychiatric diagnoses. This data should serve us to formulate practical recommendations for media in order to meet anti-stigmatizing objectives and thus improve media coverage.

stigma; mental illness; printed media

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