Cubrimiento de la salud mental enla prensa colombiana, un aporte aún en construcción/Coverage of mental health in the Colombian Press, an ongoing contribution

• Published in: Revista latina de comunicación social 2017-01 (72), p.114
• Main Authors: Gutiérrez-Coba, Liliana, Salgado-Cardona, Andrea, Perdomo, Víctor García, Guzmán-Rossini, Yahira
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Subjects: Correlation analysis; Health promotion; Journalism; Mass media; Media coverage; Mental disorders; Mental health; News media; Stigma
• ISSN: 1138-5820
• DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-2017-1156

Even though the role of mass media in health promotion tasks have been widely documented, and that regarding mental health, information about prevention, treatment and successful cases of integration is rather relevant to reduce the social stigma individuals with mental disorders must bear there are scarce publications about the issue in the Colombian press. For this correlational-descriptive study, 545 journalistic notes about mental health published in 7 Colombian newspapers were analysed, using the contents analysis technique. In average, less than 1.5 daily journalistic notes related to the issue were published through an entire year among seven mass media, that is, barely 0.2 in every newspaper. Mental health themes which are more published by newspapers are addictions (65.5%) and suicidal behaviours (22.4%). Besides, it is significant that from the 545 texts analysed, only 15 have made an adequate processing of the specialized terms so that they were understood by readers of generalistic media. This reveals a lack of knowledge about the subject from journalists, and likewise, a disability to delve into it and offer the reader a wider perspective, beyond mere facts. Therefore, it is a field that needs further working, from Journalism Faculties to the same media.