Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to discover the news frames used by popular women’s magazines to report cervical cancer information. This study also explored what, if any, differences exist in the frames used for cervical cancer communication among magazines written for women of different races and ethnicities. Using the cultural theory approach as the underlying epistemology, a qualitative content analysis was used to learn how magazines read by African American, Hispanic, and white women provide a lens through which readers can understand cervical cancer. This study found five major frames used in women’s popular magazines to report cervical cancer information: consciousness-raising, confusion in abnormality, controversy, innovation/medicalization, and differences across identities. The findings extended media framing theory as well as a developing theory of women’s health communication into understanding better the gaps between women’s understanding of cervical cancer and the ways the media position and write about cervical cancer in news stories. Practical implications include identifying news reporting gaps that can be filled by cervical cancer and sexual health communicators through increased collaboration with popular magazine journalists in the forming, contextualizing, sourcing, and detailing of their stories.