Women's Perceptions of the Risks of Age-Related Diseases, Including Breast Cancer: Reports from a 3-Year Research Study

Abstract

Misperceptions of health risks lead many women to misunderstand their risks and fail to take appropriate measures to prevent or treat many diseases. This article analyzes the impact of various sources of information on the perceptions and misperceptions of women regarding the risks of age-related diseases. This article shows that most of the women respondents held incorrect beliefs about their risk of heart disease, breast and lung cancer, and osteoporosis; half held inaccurate beliefs about disease-related statistical correlation and causation, and about dose-response relations; and many lacked the skills necessary to evaluate media reports about health and medicine. This article indicates that information and education related to health issues, focused on improved public understanding and decision making related to health risks, is needed to achieve improved health outcomes.

News Coverage of Health-Related Issues and Its Impacts on Perceptions: Taiwan as an Example

“…Moyer, Greener, Beauvais, and Salovey (1995) found inaccuracies in two-thirds of the news coverage of breast cancer. Second, some coverage simply omits information; Covello and Peters (2002;see also Molitor, 1993) show that journalists exclude important background information or critical facts in their coverage. Third, news coverage tends to exaggerate or sensationalize (Schwartz, Woloshin, & Baczek, 2002).…”

“…Mass media provide the main source of health information, in that approximately 80% of the public rely on general media (television, magazines, newspapers) for information about health topics-greater than the percentage who rely on physicians (Covello & Peters, 2002). A 2002 survey by the Pew Research Center also indicated that 71% of Americans closely follow health news (Mebane, 2003).…”

A qualitative study of college student responses to conflicting messages in advertising: anti-binge drinking public service announcements versus wine promotion health messages

“…Covello and Peters (2002) stated that the people tend to consider media sources to be unreliable, responding to oversimplified and contradictory health information with ''confusion, hyper vigilance, anxiety, stress, distrust of science and medicine'' (p. 392). Being exposed to conflicting drinking messages, college students may also become confused about the messages, which may influence their attitudes and drinking behaviors.…”

Segmentation of the common carotid artery with active shape models from 3D ultrasound images

“…1 In the United States alone, CVD results in both direct and indirect health care costs and productivity loss amounting to $274 billion annually. 2 The therapy evaluation and clinical data analysis are important to the cerebrovascular and cardiovascular pathologies diagnosis; and have attracted significant attention amongst the health and science community. 3,4 Ultrasound (US) has been employed as a routine examination for inexpensive non-invasive clinical diagnosis of atherosclerosis (the hardening of the arteries).…”