How do the media communicate cancer with us: A content analysis in UK Newspaper and Facebook

Background: Based on the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM), people’s health behavior to prevent cancer might be changed by external messages. The media play an important role in increasing people’s exposure to these messages and further influencing people’s preventative behavior. It is important to understand the cancer messages communicated in the current media. Therefore, we employed a content analysis in UK newspaper in 2014 and in Facebook posts in 2015. Methods: Our sample includes 102 articles from the Daily Mail, 99 articles from the Daily Telegraph, 197 posts from Cancer Research UK and 71 posts from the Health Digest. Inspired by the EPPM, a codebook was developed. The codebook contains eight categories with acceptable reliabilities: severity, treatability, treatment threat, susceptibility to cancer, preventability, prevention threat, efficacy of health behavior and efficacy of coping strategy. Four trained coders coded the sample. Findings: Analyses revealed that in newspapers severity, treatability and susceptibility to cancer were frequently communicated, but efficacy of health behavior was not. In Facebook, the most common message depended on the function of the account. When the account aimed to promoting health behavior, efficacy of health behavior and susceptibility to cancer were frequently posted. When the account aimed to encouraging donating for cancer research, treatability and severity were frequently posted. Discussion: Different types of cancer messages are communicated in the media, but the influences of these messages on preventative behavior regarding cancer were unclear. It is necessary to further investigate the influence of each type of message.