IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i15p9676-d881449.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Celebrities and Breast Cancer: A Multidimensional Quali-Quantitative Analysis of News Stories Shared on Social Media

Author

Listed:
  • Priscila Biancovilli

    (Doctoral School of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, 7621 Pécs, Hungary)

  • Lilla Makszin

    (Institute of Bioanalysis, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
    Szentágothai Research Center, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary)

  • Faten Amer

    (Doctoral School of Health Sciences, University of Pécs, 7621 Pécs, Hungary)

  • Alexandra Csongor

    (Department of Languages for Biomedical Purposes and Communication, Medical School, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary)

Abstract

In 2020, breast cancer was the most frequent type of cancer in 158 countries. To advise the population about risk factors and the importance of preventive measures, celebrities can be of great help, acting as spokespersons for reliable scientific information. The goal of this study is to analyse the content of news stories about breast cancer shared on different social media, examining how stories with celebrity presence are constructed. We performed a quali-quantitative multidimensional analysis of news stories in English that addressed breast cancer on the following social media platforms: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Reddit. We compared news stories with and without the presence of celebrities. Our sample consists of 1594 news stories that had at least 1000 total shares across all analysed social media; 262 news stories mention a celebrity (16.44%), while 1332 stories do not (83.56%). Nevertheless, the ones that feature celebrities are, as a rule, more shared. The percentage of stories with celebrities addressing breast cancer prevention is quite low (1.9%). The same can be said for mentions of scientific papers/specialist quotes (3.4%). This research may help outline some possible paths that healthcare organizations and communication professionals can take to improve breast cancer content available online.

Suggested Citation

  • Priscila Biancovilli & Lilla Makszin & Faten Amer & Alexandra Csongor, 2022. "Celebrities and Breast Cancer: A Multidimensional Quali-Quantitative Analysis of News Stories Shared on Social Media," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-10, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9676-:d:881449
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9676/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9676/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kalichman, S.C. & Hunter, T.L., 1992. "The disclosure of celebrity HIV infection: Its effects on public attitudes," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 82(10), pages 1374-1376.
    2. Stacy Wood & Bryan Bollinger, 2020. "Predicting Changes in Patient Choice of Preventive Health Care after Celebrity Diagnoses," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(3), pages 302-310.
    3. Esin Ceber & Meral Turk & Meltem Ciceklioglu, 2010. "The effects of an educational program on knowledge of breast cancer, early detection practices and health beliefs of nurses and midwives," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(15‐16), pages 2363-2371, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joanna Błajda & Edyta Barnaś & Anna Kucab, 2022. "Application of Personalized Education in the Mobile Medical App for Breast Self-Examination," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Hannah Farrimond, 2023. "Stigma Mutation: Tracking Lineage, Variation and Strength in Emerging COVID-19 Stigma," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 28(1), pages 171-188, March.
    3. Beatriz Casais & João F. Proença, 2010. "Inhibitions and implications associated with celebrity participation in social marketing programs focusing on HIV prevention: an exploratory research," FEP Working Papers 360, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    4. Alexander Cardazzi & Joshua Martin & Zachary Rodriguez, 2021. "Information Avoidance and Celebrity Exposure: The Effect of "Magic" Johnson on AIDS Diagnoses and Mortality in the U.S," Working Papers 21-04, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    5. Alexander Cardazzi & Joshua C. Martin & Zachary Rodriguez, 2023. "Information shocks and celebrity exposure: The effect of “Magic” Johnson on AIDS diagnoses and mortality in the U.S," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(9), pages 2047-2079, September.
    6. Chaudoir, Stephenie R. & Fisher, Jeffrey D. & Simoni, Jane M., 2011. "Understanding HIV disclosure: A review and application of the Disclosure Processes Model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(10), pages 1618-1629, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9676-:d:881449. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.