Who Is (Held) Responsible for Diabetes and Depression?

Abstract

Responsibility frames and attributions of responsibility are closely linked to health-related stigma and social support intentions, which present relevant influencing factors for health outcomes. According to social-ecological models, health responsibility can potentially be attributed to at least three levels: 1) the individual, 2) the social network, and 3) society. So far, little is known about responsibility attributions to the social network. This qualitative interview study explores how N = 22 persons with and without lived experience with diabetes and depression react to a media frame attributing responsibility to the social network level, aiming to understand how framing and responsibility attributions are linked to health-related stigma and endorsement of social support. Results demonstrate that specifically type 2 diabetes is linked to individually controllable attributions and behavioural stigma, and individuals living with type 2 diabetes are expected to manage their condition without considerable social support. In contrast, depression is seen as less controllable, less manageable, and dependent on social and professional support. For both diabetes and depression, frames attributing responsibility to the social network may stimulate social support but also carry certain risks. These results offer implications for health news reporting, and perspectives for further research on health-related responsibility framing.

Young Scholar Action Special Issue

“…The pandemic also spurred an unprecedented amount of health information in news media. Related to that observation, the paper of Temmann (2023) compares the impact of responsibility framing in news media on people's understanding of these health issues, and particularly on their beliefs about who is responsible for their causes and treatment. This topic is investigated in the domain of mental health (depression) and lifestyle-related health issues (Type 2 diabetes) through qualitative interviews with 22 (German speaking) persons living with and without depression and Type 2 diabetes.…”

“…Secondly, the three papers in this special issue rely on research methods that were "Coronaproof", that is reaching out to diverse samples of respondents and gathering data (at one or several moments in time) via online tools. That is, they use either a longitudinal online survey (Marciano et al, 2023), an electronic diary study (Vanherle et al, 2023), or semi-structured interviews via phones or videocalls (Temmann, 2023). Finally, the three papers all underline the power of social connections.…”

“…Finally, the three papers all underline the power of social connections. They show that online interactions are crucial to children's and adolescents' life satisfaction in times of isolation (Marciano et al, 2023), emphasize that the perceived "societal" severity is not only a predictor of Covid-19 risk-reducing behaviours, but also that health topics are also further discussed on social media platforms (Vanherle et al, 2023), and that the societal framing of health issues by the media affects how the audience perceives social context as a cause and solution for health issues (Temmann, 2023).…”