Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: A content analysis was conducted to assess the extent to which six highly circulated women’s magazines included messages about cervical cancer that 1) highlighted the risks and 2) the severity of the disease, 3) discussed efficacious prevention and detection options, and 4) adequately addressed barriers. The coding scheme was derived from the components of Witte’s extended parallel processing model, which posits that a balance of fear-inducing messages and efficacy messages is crucial in positively affecting health attitudes and behaviors. The study revealed that women’s magazines tend to include more threatening messages than efficacious messages. The article sample was then split in order to compare coverage in magazines whose target readership is younger women and magazines whose target readership is older women. Findings indicate that magazines targeted toward younger women tend to cover issues related to susceptibility well, but fail to address issues related to self and response-efficacy.