Beyond Altruism: Framing Organ Donation in a 19-year Review of Chinese News Coverage

Disappearing Negative Valence: A Content Analysis of HPV Vaccine Newspaper Coverage in China (2000-2018)

News coverage of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine grew rapidly in China in 2016 when the vaccine was approved. Drawing upon framing theory, the present study analyzed the content of 491 Chinese newspaper reports on the HPV vaccine published between June 2000 and December 2018 to investigate what and how information and valence about the vaccine was relayed to the public. The results indicated that, while the Chinese media failed to provide comprehensive and accurate information about HPV and the HPV vaccine, they showed a positive evaluation of the HPV vaccine demand and market. In addition, there was a decline in negative coverage after the vaccine was approved. This study extended the literature on HPV vaccine coverage by combining issue-specific framing and valence framing, considering the Chinese-specific vaccine market for presentation and the value of such products, which is rare in previous studies. Practical implications of the findings for health promotion were also discussed.

Examining behavioural intention towards organ donation in Hong Kong

Although many people report favourable attitudes towards organ donation, Hong Kong has one of the lowest rates of organ donation globally. The present study examined behavioural intention towards organ donation. A convenience sample of 225 Hong Kong Chinese adults (118 = female) aged 18-82 years were recruited to an online survey. Behavioural intention, attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, knowledge and altruism were examined. ANOVA was conducted to examine key differences based on behavioural intention, regression then examined predictors of behavioural intention to donate before exploratory analysis examined the mediating role of subjective norms on the relationship between self-efficacy and behavioural intention. Findings revealed over one third (38%) of respondents were actively registered as organ donors. Women were significantly more likely to be registered as organ donors. Subjective norms and self-efficacy were strong predictors of behavioural intention to donate, and subjective norms significantly mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and behavioural intention to donate.

Understanding the Chinese's intentions to discuss organ donation with their family: Media use, cultural values, and psychological correlates

Purpose

Family consent is required for posthumous organ donation to proceed in China. Prior discussion about organ donation with one's family can help ensure family consent and encourage family members to register as donors. This research aims to understand the factors related to one's intentions to discuss organ donation with family members.

Method

An online survey was conducted in China. A total of 352 participants who were not registered organ donors completed survey questions related to their attitudes toward family discussion about organ donation, subjective norms, self-efficacy, intentions, collectivist values, and media use.

Results

The Chinese's value-expressive attitudes (β = 0.28, p < 0.001), self-efficacy (β = 0.52, p < 0.001), and anticipated guilt (β = 0.28, p < 0.001) predicted their intentions to discuss organ donation with their families. The total effects of collectivist values and media use on discussion intentions were 0.50 (p < 0.001) and 0.31 (p < 0.001), respectively, and were mediated by value-expressive attitudes, efficacy, and anticipated guilt.

Innovation

This research is the first to examine the psychological factors and media use associated with mainland Chinese's intentions to discuss organ donation with their families. Such a detailed understanding can inform the design of more persuasive public campaigns.

Calls to Action (Mobilizing Information) on Cancer in Online News: Content Analysis

Background

The health belief model explains that individual intentions and motivation of health behaviors are mostly subject to external cues to action, such as from interpersonal communications and media consumptions. The concept of mobilizing information (MI) refers to a type of mediated information that could call individuals to carry out particular health actions. Different media channels, especially digital media outlets, play an essential role as a health educator to disseminate cancer health information and persuade and mobilize cancer prevention in the community. However, little is known about calls to action (or MI) in online cancer news, especially from Asian media outlets.

Objective

This study aimed at analyzing cancer news articles that contain MI and their news components on the selected Malaysian English and Chinese newspapers with online versions.

Methods

The Star Online and Sin Chew Online were selected for analysis because the two newspaper websites enjoy the highest circulation and readership in the English language and the Chinese language streams, respectively. Two bilingual coders searched the cancer news articles based on sampling keywords and then read and coded each news article accordingly. Five coding variables were conceptualized from previous studies (ie, cancer type, news source, news focus, cancer risk factors, and MI), and a good consistency using Cohen kappa was built between coders. Descriptive analysis was used to examine the frequency and percentage of each coding item; chi-square test (confidence level at 95%) was applied to analyze the differences between two newspaper websites, and the associations between variables and the presence of MI were examined through binary logistic regression.

Results

Among 841 analyzed news articles, 69.6% (585/841) presented MI. News distributions were unbalanced throughout the year in both English and Chinese newspaper websites; some months occupied peaks (ie, February and October), but cancer issues and MI for cancer prevention received minimal attention in other months. The news articles from The Star Online and Sin Chew Online were significantly different in several news components, such as the MI present rates (χ²=9.25, P=.003), providing different types of MI (interactive MI: χ²=12.08, P=.001), interviewing different news sources (government agency: χ²=12.05, P=.001), concerning different news focus (primary cancer prevention: χ²=10.98, P=.001), and mentioning different cancer risks (lifestyle risks: χ²=7.43, P=.007). Binary logistic regression results reported that online cancer news articles were more likely to provide MI when interviewing nongovernmental organizations, focusing on topics related to primary cancer prevention, and highlighting lifestyle risks (odds ratio [OR] 2.77, 95% CI 1.89-4.05; OR 97.70, 95% CI 46.97-203.24; OR 186.28; 95% CI 44.83-773.96; P=.001, respectively).

Conclusions

This study provided new understandings regarding MI in cancer news coverage. This could wake and trigger individuals’ preexisting attitudes and intentions on cancer prevention. Thus, health professionals, health journalists, and health campaign designers should concentrate on MI when distributing health information to the community.