Dementia in the news: the media coverage of Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Objective: To identify and analyse the contexts in which Alzheimer's disease is portrayed in the New Zealand print media. Methods: Items from 15 newspapers from over a 5-year period, which contained the word 'Alzheimer's', were subjected to a qualitative interpretive analysis to determine recurring patterns of the representation of Alzheimer's disease. Results: The word 'Alzheimer's' was found in notices, scientific reports, obituaries, personal stories, 'missing people' reports and reports dealing with residential care for people with Alzheimer's disease. The advocacy organisation, Alzheimers New Zealand, was called upon frequently by the media to speak for people with Alzheimer's disease and their families. Conclusion: The analysis revealed that the media remains a powerful transmitter of stereotypes. In the case of Alzheimer's disease these included those associated with ageing and with dementia.

Mental Illness, Photojournalism and Internet: toward a more humanised and normalised image

“…El importante rol de los medios de comunicación en la generación y representación de los intereses públicos en temas de salud es claro para Elizabeth Peel (2014: 886) que defiende que estos contribuyen a un determinado conocimiento con los retratos de personas en los que se potencia la estampa de «víctimas inocentes» o de personas que «merecen su fatalidad». Para Kirkman (2006), que afirma que los medios tienen el poder de reducir el estigma aso-9 http://www.alzfae.org/ (30/09/2016) 10 Este análisis se desarrolla en el artículo «Fotografía y enfermedad mental: de las imágenes para la comunicación científica al fotoperiodismo y las redes sociales», pendiente de publicación. ciado a la demencia, en el caso del Alzheimer los afectados son representados como víctimas no sólo de la enfermedad sino también de los servicios de salud y un estudio reciente sugiere que los diarios continúan teniendo en sus relatos sobre la demencia «características convencionales».…”

Moving Forward on Digital Inclusion: A framework for integrating research, policy and practice

“…Not surprisingly then, stress, depression and anxiety are reported in the literature as major problems for both carers and the person being cared for (Gottlieb & Johnson, 2000;Kirkman, 2006;Watts & Teitelman, 2005). This strain has led to an issue arising which has been termed elder abuse, which is the physical or mental abuse of an older person, often by a caregiver.…”

“…The symptoms described above all reflect dementia's devastating effect on people's quality of life. As a consequence carers and loved ones often describe a feeling that the body is still there but the person they knew has gone (Bull, 1998;Kirkman, 2006;Watts & Teitelman, 2005).…”

“…There are a number of common forms of dementia including: vascular dementia, Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, fronto-temporal lobe degeneration, Huntington's disease and alcohol related dementia (Alzheimer's Australia, 2005a). By far the most common form Sweeting and Gilhooly (1997) and Kirkman (2006) observe that dementia is often experienced as a "social death". The symptoms described above all reflect dementia's devastating effect on people's quality of life.…”

Dementia in the Context of Disability

“…Finally, the view of dementia throughout society is strongly influenced by media representations (Kirkman, 2006). Although these largely reflect the tragic view of dementia, Sarah reported she thought that the present day media depiction is actually better than it had been in the past, when people with dementia were depicted in asylum-type settings in comparison to today's typical portrayal at home or in a pleasant senior living facility.…”