The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #41498

Jan Borman, PhD, RN, College of St. Catherine, 2004 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105, 651-690-6568, borman@mn.rr.com

This paper will present the findings of a qualitative media analysis that was based on the agenda-setting hypothesis, part of the media effects theories in mass communications. This hypothesis suggests that the media influence what the public thinks is important, using a social construction of the issues on the agenda (Finnegan & Viswananth, 2001). Media messages related to depression were investigated in popular women's magazines during two time periods: 1980 to 1985 and 1995 to 2000. These time periods were selected to represent the prevailing social construction of depression in relationship to the to the introduction of Prozac and its appearance on Newsweek magazine's cover in 1990. Eight women's magazines, five of which were among the 10 magazines with the highest circulation in 2000, were found to contain 82 articles on depression during the two time periods. Words, phases, sentences, and passages from the magazine articles were identified according to an investigator-developed, 12-category, data-retrieval protocol and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed qualitatively with the assistance of QSR NVivo Software. The portrayal of depression was found to change over the two time periods. In comparison to the pre-Prozac time period, an increased number of articles and a changed framing of depression characterized the 1995 to 2000 time period. The findings suggest that, between the two time periods, women's magazines provided their readers with different ways to think about depression. This research suggests that various factors and processes over time influenced the social construction of depression in popular women's magazines.

Learning Objectives:

• By the end of the session, the participants will be able to describe the components of the agenda-setting hypothesis.
• By the end of the session, the participants will be able to state at least two ways media messages about depression changed between the 1980s and 1990s.

Keywords: Depression, Health Communications

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.