Television news exposure is related to fear of breast cancer

Lemal, Marijke; Bulck, Jan Van den

doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2008.11.011

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…23,24 Where the issue is a health risk, an extension to the theory suggests that the more coverage the risk receives then the more concerned about it the public will become, regardless of the nature of the coverage. 25 Numerous studies have demonstrated a link between greater exposure to media reports about a health issue and concern, worry or anxiety about it: examples include anxiety about breast cancer, 26 disquiet about genetically modified foods, 27 fear of avian influenza 28 or worry about a cryptosporidiosis outbreak. 29 Whether such effects persist during a sustained period of reporting is less certain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of communications about swine flu (influenza A H1N1v) on public responses to the outbreak: results from 36 national telephone surveys in the UK.

Rubin

Potts²,

Michie³

2010

Health Technol Assess

396

406

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Objectives:To assess the association between levels of worry about the possibility of catching swine flu and the volume of media reporting about it; the role of psychological factors in predicting likely uptake of the swine flu vaccine; and the role of media coverage and advertising in predicting other swine flu-related behaviours. Design: Data from a series of random-digit-dial telephone surveys were analysed. A time series analysis tested the association between levels of worry and the volume of media reporting on the start day of each survey. Cross-sectional regression analyses assessed the relationships between likely vaccine uptake or behaviour and predictor variables. Setting: Thirty-six surveys were run at, on average, weekly intervals across the UK between

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of communications about swine flu (influenza A H1N1v) on public responses to the outbreak: results from 36 national telephone surveys in the UK.

Rubin

Potts²,

Michie³

2010

Health Technol Assess

396

406

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In the HINTS results, controlling for psychological distress reduced both gender and ethnic differences in cancer worry, although multiple other behavioural factors were also included as control variables, making it difficult to identify whether psychological distress was the key confounder. High trait anxiety has also been shown to increase the effect of media breast cancer messages on breast cancer fear [26]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The structure and demographic correlates of cancer fear

et al. 2014

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BackgroundCancer is often described as the ‘number one’ health fear, but little is known about whether this affects quality of life by translating into high levels of worry or distress in everyday life, or which population groups are most affected. This study examined the prevalence of three components of cancer fear in a large community sample in the UK and explored associations with demographic characteristics.MethodsQuestions on cancer fear were included in a survey mailed to a community sample of adults (n = 13,351; 55–64 years). Three items from a standard measure of cancer fear assessed: i) whether cancer was feared more than other diseases, ii) whether thinking about cancer caused discomfort, and iii) whether cancer worry was experienced frequently. Gender, marital status, education, and ethnicity were assessed with simple questions. Anxiety was assessed with the brief STAI and a standard measure of self-rated health was included.ResultsQuestionnaire return rate was 60% (7,971/13,351). The majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they feared cancer more than other diseases (59%), and felt uncomfortable thinking about it (52%), and a quarter (25%) worried a lot about cancer. All items were significantly inter-correlated (r = .35 to .42, p’s < .001), and correlated with general anxiety (r = .16 to .28, p’s < .001) and self-rated health (r = -.07 to -.16, p’s < .001). In multivariable analyses including anxiety and general health, all cancer fear indicators were significantly higher in women (ORs between 1.15 and 1.48), respondents with lower education (ORs between 1.40 and 1.66), and those with higher general anxiety (ORs between 1.50 and 2.11). Ethnic minority respondents (n = 285; 4.4%) reported more worry (OR: 1.85).ConclusionsMore than half of this older adult sample in the UK had cancer as greatest health fear and this was associated with feeling uncomfortable thinking about it and worrying more about it. Women and respondents with less education or from ethnic minority backgrounds were disproportionately affected by cancer fear. General anxiety and poor health were associated with cancer fear but did not explain the demographic differences.

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“…The messages conveyed via the media can impact health behavior change (Wakefield, Loken, and Hornik, 2010) as well as generate emotional arousal (Lemal and Van den Bulck, 2009). Research has generally shown that exposure to disease-related information on the media is likely to induce greater risk perception and emotions (Lemal and Van den Bulck, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%