Evaluating Understanding of Popular Press Reports of Health Research

Abstract

This research assessed the ability of a sample of persons on a college campus to understand media reports of health research. Three or four articles on each of five contemporary health topics (dietary cholesterol and heart disease, treatment for breast cancer, starch blockers, drug treatment for heart disease, test tube skin) were selected from widely circulated newspapers (e.g., New York Times) and magazines (e.g., Newsweek). A sample of 144 college students responded to content-based and application-based questions derived from photocopies of these popular press articles. The overall rate of reader misunderstanding approached 40% and generally fell between one third and one half for each of 16 articles representing five health topics. Several strengths and weaknesses of the research are considered as they relate to the accuracy of estimated error rates and to the generality of study findings. The implications of these findings for other areas of health (e.g., AIDS risk factor research) are also discussed.

Frequently cited sources in cancer news coverage: a content analysis examining the relationship between cancer news content and source citation

“…Two-thirds of America's cancer deaths can be linked to behavioral factors such as tobacco, diet, obesity, and a lack of physical activity [52]. As cancer diagnoses escalate, the media and the public are turning more attention to health [4,53]. If the cancer epidemic is to be abated, the news media and the sources they turn to for cancer information can likely have a considerable effect on the public's health.…”

Cancer News Coverage and Information Seeking

“…The news media are a primary source of new health information for physicians and the lay public alike (e.g., Niederdeppe et al, 2007;Phillips, Kanter, Bednarczyk, & Tastad, 1991;Yeaton, Smith, & Rogers, 1990). While widespread critiques of the quality of cancer news coverage abound (e.g., Freimuth, Greenberg, DeWitt, & Romano, 1984), factual disagreements between published scientific results and news reporting of them are rare (Bubela & Caulfield, 2004;Condit, 2004;Moyer, Greener, Beauvais, & Salovey, 1994).…”

“…News media reports are one of the primary ways the public learns about new findings and changes in medical science (Johnson, 1997;Yeaton et al, 1990), but news reports often distill study findings into simple messages, obscuring complexities (e.g., Stryker, 2002). Our results have dual implications in this context.…”

“…Public health advocates, researchers, and journal editors thus have the potential to influence cancer news coverage and health behaviors among segments of the population (e.g., Schooler, Sundar, & Flora, 1996;Stillman, Cronin, Evans, & Ulasevich, 2001). News media reports are one of the primary ways the public learns about new findings and changes in medical science (Johnson, 1997;Yeaton et al, 1990), but news reports often distill study findings into simple messages, obscuring complexities (e.g., Stryker, 2002). Our results have dual implications in this context.…”

The Contribution of Trade Books to Early Science Literacy: In and Out of School

“…Only half the students demonstrated knowledge of the elements of scientific argument. Furthermore, Yeaton et al (1990) found that university students can also be overly accepting of generalizations of health-related research extracted from newspapers and magazines. Thus, our future adult citizens are graduating from the school system without the skills necessary to accurately interpret scientific information.…”