Behavioral Consequences of Conflict-Oriented Health News Coverage: The 2009 Mammography Guideline Controversy and Online Information Seeking

Abstract

Building on channel complementarity theory and media-system dependency theory, this study explores the impact of conflict-oriented news coverage of health issues on information seeking online. Using Google search data as a measure of behavior, we demonstrate that controversial news coverage of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's November 2009 recommendations for changes in breast cancer screening guidelines strongly predicted the volume of same-day online searches for information about mammograms. We also found that this relationship did not exist 1 year prior to the coverage, during which mammography news coverage did not focus on the guideline controversy, suggesting that the controversy frame may have driven search behavior. We discuss the implications of these results for health communication scholars and practitioners.

Cancer Control and the Communication Innovation in South Korea: Implications for Cancer Disparities

“…This example illustrates information inconsistency that may be attributed to a conflict between parties of interest (Woolf , 2010;U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, 2010;Chou et al, 2011;Squiers et al, 2011;Weeks et al, 2012). In South Korea, media covered a controversy over the anti-cancer effect of beans or vitamins, thereby raising the necessity of evidence-based information presented and certified by an authoritative institution (Kwon et al, 2005).…”

What's the message? A content analysis of newspaper articles about assisted reproductive technology from 2005 to 2011

“…Changes in public health policy may spark controversy and become the subject of public scrutiny (Kelly et al, 2009;Weeks et al, 2012). In 2010, the Quebec government became the only jurisdiction in North America to offer public funding for ART, covering up to three cycles of IVF (Government of Quebec, 2010).…”

A Content Analysis of Publication Trends in Internet-Focused Healthcare Communication Research: A Look at the Past and Potential Future of the Field

“…Scholars employed a variety of research methods such as content analyses, experimental designs, and surveys to examine health information seeking behavior on blogs, online forums, websites, and many other online platforms. In terms of topics, research has examined the relationship of news coverage and online searches of information [14], public anxiety and online information searching behavior [15], and many others. Another line of research examined how specific groups, such as cancer patients [16][17][18], older adults [19,20], and teenagers use the Internet for accessing health information [21].…”