Even in the era of the internet, printed media are still among the most frequently identified sources of mental health information. Many studies have shown that this information is frequently negative and contributes to stigmatization of people with mental illness. This international comparative study describes the content of media messages about mental health/illness in terms of stigma in three central European countries. The study sample comprised all articles pertaining to the topic of mental health/illness (N=450) identified during five week-long periods in 2007 chosen from the six most widely read newspapers and magazines in each country. Content analysis methods were used to achieve quantitative as well as qualitative objectives. More than half of all articles contained negative statements reflecting stigma towards persons with mental illness. Substance abuse disorders are the most frequent mental conditions covered in all three countries (22%) and psychotic disorders are the most stigmatized. Countries significantly differ in length of articles, the association of aggressive behavior with persons with mental illness, and in the use of a sensationalized style of writing. Coverage of mental health/illness issues differs to some extent across countries, but is generally of poor quality. Based on our findings, practical recommendations for journalists can be tailored specifically for each country.

Background and aims:It's known that media significantly contribute to the stigmatisation of mental disorders themselves, as well as the people suffering from such ailments. The aim of our study is to provide content analysis of media messages covering the topics of mental health and psychiatry.Methods:The study sample comprises the media messages pertaining to the topic of mental illness collected by using the database of the Newton IT monitoring system. The articles were chosen from 6 printed most widely read daily periodicals, the period under consideration were 5 separate weeks randomly selected from the year 2007.Results:184 articles with mental illness as main content were found, including 110 in broadsheets and 74 in tabloids. Global impression of the message was negative in 76% of articles in tabloids and in 33% in broadsheets. The most represented diagnosis were Substance use disorders that were mentioned in 22% of all articles, on the other hand the representation of Neurotic disorders was quite low - 2% of all articles, Psychotic disorders were mentioned in 7% of articles.Conclusions:The results relate to only a short time period, however, suggest that the degree of stigma of mental disorders in the Czech printed media is high and should be further analysed. The main outcome is to formulate the recommendations for media in order to meet anti-stigmatising objectives and thus improve media coverage, minimalize discrimination practises and increase help seeking behavior.

Abstract. In the article we use the data from specific research entitled "Media Education in the Family" and conducted by the Department of Social Pedagogy, College of Education, University of Hradec Králové, in 2012. The survey focused on mapping the state of media education in the contemporary Czech families. Specifically, we asked families with children at the age from six to fifteen. The data collection was conducted by questionnaire method. Our group of researchers created two different forms of questionnaires, the first one for parents and the second one, which was modified into appropriate form for children. Questionnaires were given to both parents (if they lived both in the household) and to one child in each family. The children were divided into groups according to their age: the first age group from 6 to 8 years, the second group from 9 to 11 years and the third group from 13 to 15 years. Into these age categories (quotas) were included families with a child at a given age. Parents separately completed a questionnaire. The researchers had to do a controlled interview with children due to possible misunderstanding of the questions by the youngest respondents. Then the researchers filled in answers from children to the appropriate questionnaire. Totally 1, 306 questionnaires were received from parents and 566 from children after exclusion of improperly completed questionnaires.All data relate to families in Czech society, but we think that many of the characteristics could occur in families from other countries as well. This is caused mainly by a global expansion in electronic media. Czech families and an intergenerational communicationWe would like to focus on changes in intergenerational communication and on the deepening communication barrier among contemporary Czech generations. Arising problems in intergenerational communication are influenced by the changing interconnection of generations in the Czech families. The number of multigenerational living, which means cohabitation of grandparents, parents and their children, has been decreasing in recent years. On the contrary, the number of two generation families (= parents and their children) has been increasing.There has been a limitation of communication topics among different age groups recently. We consider that the value of positive family relationships has weakened. Children prefer development of the relationship with peers and they (children) communicate with peers more than with their parents. This kind of communication is simplified and accelerated. Children are not limited only to personal meetings with peers but they can satisfy their need to entrust immediately by using any type of electronic media. They (children) can immediately tell anyone else any necessary information, even if they are at home only with their parents. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is pr...

Objectives: 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. The main objective of this international study was to identify predictors of stigmatizing and nonstigmatizing articles on mental illness in Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovakia. Methods: The study sample comprised all articles pertaining to the topic of mental illness (N=450) chosen from 6 most widely read newspapers and magazines identified during five weeklong periods in 2007. The presence of stigmatization and destigmatization statements was coded and articles were grouped in positive, neutral, mixed and negative clusters. Negative/positive ratio (NPR) was used to assess the predictor value of different features of the article regarding stigmatization. Results: 61.8% of articles contained some stigmatizing statements towards persons with mental illness. The highest NPR was found in articles published in tabloids (6.8), on the front page (3.7) and in the articles where psychotic disorder was mentioned (7.4) and mentally ill person figured as a source of information (1.8). Lowest NPR was found in magazines (0.6), articles in later sections (1.7) that mentioned eating disorders (0.3) and scientific surveys (0.1). Conclusions: There is a high level of stigmatizing statements in the studied articles. As the strongest predictors of stigmatizing content we have identified articles that are published in tabloids and articles with reference to psychosis. Contrary to this, eating disorders had the least stigmatizing depiction as well as articles containing scientific data.