Framing Asthma

Abstract

Little is known about the portrayal of asthma in US newspapers. The purpose of the present study was to analyze 7 representative US newspapers to determine the frequency of substantive asthma articles and the occurrence of stigma, challenge, fear, and management frames within the articles. The authors conducted a content analysis of 203 in-depth asthma articles from 2 years in 7 US newspapers and developed a coding instrument to identify framing cues of stigma versus challenge and fear versus management. Research results supported the need for an increase in substantive print news articles about asthma. Fear cues were present in 43% of the articles reviewed, although the majority of them (88%) contained a management solution message. Only 41% of articles contained a positive challenge cue. More than one-fourth (28%) contained a stigma cue. Overall, the majority of the articles had a neutral or positive tone, but almost 2 of 10 articles had a negative tone. Recommendations and implications for asthma educators are discussed.