Skin deep: Coverage of skin cancer and recreational tanning in Canadian women's magazines (2000-2012)

Comparing public health-related material in print and web page versions of legacy media

Objectives

The objectives of this study were to create a database of public health content from a sample of legacy media, and to compare the prevalence of public health themes in print and web-based versions over time.

Materials and Methods

A database was created from eleven nationally published magazines as a sample of legacy media content. Relevant material was extracted and coded by the title of the article, periodical, print or web edition, month of publication, item type, and 1-3 public health theme codes.

Results

Theme codes emerged as the documents were reviewed based on the primary discussion in each piece. A total of 2558 unique documents were extracted from print issues and 6440 from web-based issues. Seventeen public health themes were identified. Individual coded documents were saved with file names identical to the code string, thus creating a searchable database.

Discussion

Legacy media are those that existed before the internet and social media. Publishers target readership groups defined by age, gender, race, sexual orientation, and other commonalities. Although legacy media have been identified as trusted sources of health information, they have not been examined as sources of public health communication. Because both print and web-based versions exist as unstructured textual data, these are rarely examined with informatics methods.

Conclusion

The process described can serve as a model for application of informatics approaches to similar data and assist development of targeted public health communications. Having a better understanding of what types of health content is distributed through legacy media can help to target health messages to specific demographic and interest groups in ways that are understandable and appealing to them.

Assessing the content and comprehensiveness of provincial and territorial indoor tanning legislation in Canada

INTRODUCTION

Canadian provincial and territorial governments have enacted legislation in response to health risks of artificial ultraviolet radiation from indoor tanning. This legislation, which differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, regulates the operation of indoor tanning facilities. The content and comprehensiveness of such legislation-and its differences across jurisdictions-have not been analyzed. To address this research gap, we conducted a systematic, comprehensive scan and content analysis on provincial and territorial indoor tanning legislation, including regulations and supplementary information.

METHODS

Legislative information was collected from the Canadian Legal Information Institute database and an environmental scan was conducted to locate supplementary information. Through a process informed by the content of the legislation, previous research and health authority recommendations, we developed a 59-variable codebook. Descriptive statistics were calculated.

RESULTS

All provinces and one of three territories have legislation regulating indoor tanning. Areas of strength across jurisdictions are youth access restrictions (n = 11), posting of warning signs (n = 11), penalties (n = 11) and restrictions on advertising and marketing targeted to youth (n = 7). Few jurisdictions, however, cover areas such as protective eyewear (n = 4), unsupervised tanning (n = 4), provisions for inspection frequency (n = 4), misleading health claims in advertisements directed toward the general public (n = 2) and screening of high-risk clients (n = 0).

CONCLUSION

All provinces and one territory have made progress in regulating the indoor tanning industry, particularly by prohibiting youth and using warning labels to communicate risk. Legislative gaps should be addressed in order to better protect Canadians from this avoidable skin cancer risk.

Nonmelanoma skin cancer in women

Men continue to develop nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) at higher rates than women, but the epidemiologic pattern of NMSC development is evolving. We present a selective, narrative review of the literature showing that there is a trend toward a development of basal cell carcinomas in women at younger ages, and highlight potential causes of this trend. We review evidence that indoor tanning is associated with the development of NMSC and show that young women use indoor tanning more than any other age-sex group. We discuss societal factors that relate to the tanning behavior of young women. Finally, we argue that facial NMSCs may have more of a negative impact on quality of life in women than in men.

Suicide portrayal in the Canadian media: examining newspaper coverage of the popular Netflix series '13 Reasons Why'

Background

Evidence suggests that the media can influence societal attitudes and beliefs to various social issues. This influence is especially strong for mental health issues, particularly suicide. As such, the aim of this study is to systematically examine Canadian newspaper coverage of the popular fictional Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, wherein the lead character dies by suicide in the final episode.

Methods

Articles mentioning the series were systematically collected from best-selling Canadian newspapers in the three-month period following series release (April–June 2017). Articles were coded for adherence to key best practice recommendations on how to sensitively report suicide. Frequency counts and proportions were produced. An inductive qualitative thematic analysis was then undertaken to identify common themes within the articles.

Results

A total of 71 articles met study inclusion criteria. The majority of articles did not mention the suicide method (88.7%) and did not use stigmatizing language such as ‘commit suicide’ (84.5%). Almost half of the articles linked suicide to wider social issues (43.7%) or quoted a mental health professional (45.1%). 25% included information telling others considering suicide where to get help. Our qualitative analysis indicated that articles simultaneously praised and criticized the series. It was praised for (i) promoting dialogue and discussion about youth suicide; (ii) raising awareness of youth suicide issues; (iii) shining a spotlight on wider social issues that may affect suicide. It was criticized for (i) glorifying suicide, (ii) harmfully impacting young viewers; (iii) prompting pushback from educators and schools.

Conclusions

Newspaper coverage of ‘13 Reasons Why’ generally adhered to core best practice media recommendations, and sensitively discussed suicide from various angles, prompting productive discussion and dialogue about youth suicide. These findings suggest that the media can be an ally in promoting dialogue and raising awareness of important public health issues such as suicide.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-5987-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.