How health information is received by diabetic patients?

Potential of UK and US newspapers for shaping patients' knowledge and perceptions about antidiabetic medicines: a content analysis

Background

Information about how newspapers portray antidiabetic medicines to readers is lacking. This study investigated the reporting on antidiabetic medicines in the most widely circulated newspapers published in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) over a 10-year period.

Methods

The Nexis UK database was used to identify and select relevant articles. Systematic content analysis of the articles which met the inclusion criteria (articles of any format that contained reference to antidiabetic medicines) within the highest circulated newspapers in the UK and US between 2009 and 2018 was conducted. Inter-rater reliability of coding was established using a 10% sample of the identified articles.

Results

A total of 560 (369 UK and 191 US) relevant newspaper articles were retrieved. In the UK, the number of relevant articles showed a slightly increasing trend over the study period, while in the US, article numbers declined over the study period. Safety/risk of antidiabetic medicines was the most frequent theme covered by the articles (34.6%). Over one-third of the newspaper articles were written from a clinical perspective (37.7%). Insulin was the most commonly discussed class of antidiabetic medicine (23.1%). Control of blood sugar levels (53.1%) and side effects/toxicity (92.7%) were the most frequently reported benefit and risk of antidiabetic medicines, respectively. The most frequently reported organ systems harmed by antidiabetic medicines were the cardiovascular, endocrine and gastrointestinal systems. The UK newspapers were more likely to report the benefits of antidiabetic medicines (p = 0.005), while the US articles were more likely to report on harms/risks (p = 0.001). The majority of relevant articles (91.8%) were judged as having a balanced judgement, while 8.2% of the articles were rated as exaggerated.

Conclusions

This study has revealed that antidiabetic medicines are indeed reported on by UK and US newspapers. As media portrayal has the potential to negatively or positively influence patients’ views of their medication for diabetes, healthcare professionals should check on patients’ beliefs and knowledge about their medication and proactively provide objective and balanced information (including promotion of medication adherence).

The complex relationship between physical activity and diabetes: an overview

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a widespread condition, representing a challenging disease to manage. Exercise is being increasingly recommended as part of the therapeutic regimen for DM but the management of different forms of physical activity is difficult for individuals with diabetes, trainers, and physicians. Regular exercise can improve health and well-being, helping individuals to achieve their target lipid profile, body composition, cardio-respiratory fitness, and glycemic goals. People with diabetes tend to be as inactive as the general population, with a large percentage of individuals not achieving the minimum amount of recommended physical activity levels. Indeed, several barriers to exercise exist for persons with diabetes, including sports eligibility, multi-modality management of diabetic athletes, and inadequate knowledge about adequate type and intensity of exercise. The aim of the present review is to provide the current understanding of mechanisms, recommendations, and beneficial effects of different modalities of exercise for the treatment of DM.

Information and information resources in COVID-19: Awareness, control, and prevention

This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the role of information and information resources in the awareness, control, and prevention of COVID-19. This study was a descriptive-analytical survey in which 450 participants were selected for the study. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data through SPSS. The findings show that a wide range of mass media has become well known as information resources for COVID-19. Other findings indicate a significant statistical difference in the rate of using information resources during COVID-19 based on age and gender; however, this difference is not significant regarding the reliability of information resources with regard to age and gender. Health information has an undisputable role in the prevention and control of pandemic diseases such as COVID-19. Providing accurate, reliable, and evidence-based information in a timely manner for the use of resources and information channels related to COVID-19 can be a fast and low-cost strategic approach in confronting this disease.

Exploring patient information needs in type 2 diabetes: A cross sectional study of questions

This study set out to analyze questions about type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) from patients and the public. The aim was to better understand people's information needs by starting with what they do not know, discovered through their own questions, rather than starting with what we know about T2DM and subsequently finding ways to communicate that information to people affected by or at risk of the disease. One hundred and sixty-four questions were collected from 120 patients attending outpatient diabetes clinics and 300 questions from 100 members of the public through the Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform. Twenty-three general and diabetes-specific topics and five phases of disease progression were identified; these were used to manually categorize the questions. Analyses were performed to determine which topics, if any, were significant predictors of a question's being asked by a patient or the public, and similarly for questions from a woman or a man. Further analysis identified the individual topics that were assigned significantly more often to the crowdsourced or clinic questions. These were Causes (CI: [-0.07, -0.03], p < .001), Risk Factors ([-0.08, -0.03], p < .001), Prevention ([-0.06, -0.02], p < .001), Diagnosis ([-0.05, -0.02], p < .001), and Distribution of a Disease in a Population ([-0.05,-0.01], p = .0016) for the crowdsourced questions and Treatment ([0.03, 0.01], p = .0019), Disease Complications ([0.02, 0.07], p < .001), and Psychosocial ([0.05, 0.1], p < .001) for the clinic questions. No highly significant gender-specific topics emerged in our study, but questions about Weight were more likely to come from women and Psychosocial questions from men. There were significantly more crowdsourced questions about the time Prior to any Diagnosis ([(-0.11, -0.04], p = .0013) and significantly more clinic questions about Health Maintenance and Prevention after diagnosis ([0.07. 0.17], p < .001). A descriptive analysis pointed to the value provided by the specificity of questions, their potential to disclose emotions behind questions, and the as-yet unrecognized information needs they can reveal. Large-scale collection of questions from patients across the spectrum of T2DM progression and from the public-a significant percentage of whom are likely to be as yet undiagnosed-is expected to yield further valuable insights.

Health Care Apps Reported in Newspapers: Content Analysis

BACKGROUND

Newspapers are considered one of the most viewed and influential media sources in both the United Kingdom and United States. However, information about how newspapers portray health care apps to the readers has been lacking.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the reporting on health care apps in newspapers published in the United Kingdom and United States.

METHODS

The Nexis UK database was used to identify and select relevant articles. Systematic content analysis of the articles that met the inclusion criteria (articles of any format that contained reference to health care apps or medical apps) within the highest circulated newspapers in the United Kingdom and United States over a period of 10 years (2006-2015) was conducted. Interrater reliability of coding was established using a 10% sample of the chosen articles.

RESULTS

A total of 220 (151 UK and 69 US) relevant newspaper articles were retrieved. Health care apps were most frequently reported on in the Daily Mail and The Guardian (UK newspapers) and in the New York Times and the Washington Post (US newspapers). An exponential rise in published scientific articles (PubMed) on health care-related apps was noted during the study period. A total of 26.4% (58/220) and 19.1% (42/220) of the retrieved newspaper articles appeared in the features and main news sections, respectively. General information about health care apps was the main theme coved by the newspapers (45.9%, 101/220). Most of the articles represented a societal point of view (72.3%, 159/220). The main focus of the articles was on general health matters (48.2%, 106/220) and specific disease matters (36.8%, 81/220). Diabetes was the most frequently mentioned disease in the articles. A high proportion (91.4%, 201/220) of the articles mentioned benefits of using health care apps mainly for personalized care, whereas 24.1% (53/220) of the articles commented on related risks such as anxiety and confidentiality issues. Almost half (45.9%, 101/220) of the articles mentioned potential facilitators to the use of apps; less than 10% (16/220) discussed barriers. Most of the articles (83.6%, 184/220) were judged as having balanced judgment on the present topic and more than half (60.0%, 132/220) of the articles were judged to be of generally low quality.

CONCLUSIONS

Health care apps were not widely reported in newspaper articles in the United Kingdom and United States over the study period; however, there appeared to be much more recent interest. Characteristically, the articles focused more frequently on societal impact and on general health rather than on disease-specific apps.

How is communication of vaccines in traditional media: a systematic review

AIM:

Taking into account that a key determinant in public approval of vaccinations is how the media constructs and frames messages about vaccination programmes, our aim is to review communication studies exploring media coverage of vaccines within traditional media venues.

METHODS:

Using a registered protocol (PROSPERO: 42017072849), a systematic review was conducted that searched in three international electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, and the International Bibliography of Social Science) for articles published between 2007 and 2017 following content-analysis methods. The characteristics and outcomes were systematically identified and described. The search yielded 24 eligible studies that were further analysed in the review.

RESULTS:

Media coverage of vaccines has been largely studied during the last decade. Findings revealed that 62% ( n = 15) of studies analysed the human papillomavirus vaccine, 87% ( n = 21) examined newspapers, and 62% ( n = 15) examined North American media. In relation to media content analyses, 75% found negative messages on vaccines and 83% identified a lack of accurate information.

CONCLUSIONS:

This systematic review suggests an agenda for further research. There is a significant need to analyse other types of traditional media beyond newspapers. Future studies should focus on other geographical areas such as low-income countries and on analysing visual materials and digital media. We found that negative messages and inaccurate information are common in media coverage on vaccines; therefore, further research focusing on these topics is needed. Officials in public health organizations should develop a close collaboration with the media to improve public communication on vaccines.