2018

One of the mediums used to raise awareness of obesity is media and it causes effect on the attitudes of people towards obesity and builds up perception by developing and presenting obesity based content by means of framing method. The way media presents obesity also contributes to the medicalization of obesity and the definition of different approaches in coping with the problem. This study conducted to investigate how the obesity content is presented in media. With this aim, 523 texts dealing with obesity, from 5 national newspapers, were investigated through content analysis method to determine how obesity is dealt with and presented. Content analysis results have shown that causes of obesity as “individual choices and attitudes”(56,1%), “genetic/biologic factors”(18,8%) and “systemic/social conditions” (12,2%). As for the recommendations for the prevention of obesity, “Nutrition/Dieting” (38,2%), “movement and exercise” (19,7%) and “surgical operation” (14,4%) were given.

International Journal Of Eurasia Social Sciences, 2019

Individuals whose lifestyles have become modernized with the progress of technology move less and consume less calorie. In addition, rapid changes in diets together with the economic development and globalization have also caused changes in individuals' feeding habits. Fast-foodstyle nutrition has increased the calorie intake even further. In this sense, today obesity has become an important public health problem, which concerns all age groups and has a prevalence increasing every passing day. Accordingly, it is also very important to raise awareness of obesity in people. The basic function of health communication is to raise awareness of individuals with accurate information about health matters and develop the community health by directing individuals toward accurate behaviors. A great part of society applies the information they get about health from the media instead of healthcare professionals. However, the media usually commercializes miraculous foods, miraculous applications, so-called effective diet programs and feeding habits encouraging consumption or lifestyle changes instead of raising awareness in people. In this study aiming to reveal the presentation of obesity in internet news; the data (n=209) acquired as a result of screening the term "obesity" on the web page of Sabah and Yeni Şafak newspapers for three months were examined using the content analysis method. The data were analyzed with the "SPSS 22.0" packaged software after being coded with a researcher and a coder on a coding form which was prepared by the researcher. The data were analyzed using arithmetic mean, standard deviation, frequency, and chi-square (X 2) test.

Online Submission, 2012

Obesity and overweight is one of the major burden of chronic disease around the globe. In India around 135 million people were affected by obesity, its emerging as a major health problem because of change is lifestyle, food habits and sedentary activities. This study aims to find out the gap in communication about obesity and overweight related information in newspaper. As Print media is still a most trusted source of health related information for the mass audience in India. Content of obesity related newspaper articles from two most circulated regional newspapers in Tamil Nadu were analysed for a period of three months. The study employed Parallel process Model to analysis 14 obesity related articles out of 104 health related articles. The survey questionnaire were framed based on Health Belief Model were circulated among the newspaper readers from Chennai to find out their knowledge about obesity and the health behavioural changes. Most obesity related Tamil newspaper articles concentrated on the impact of obesity only on physical health. The consumers believe that the major cause of obesity is junk food and they are highly aware about the physical health issues caused by obesity rather that the mental, sexual and social issues which affirms that their awareness on susceptibility and severity of obesity rely on newspaper articles. Some articles provided information regarding the approaches to overcome the disorders caused by obesity. Most articles did not provide enough information to create threat so even the consumers who pay more attention to such articles are still not practicing any health behavioural changes. None of the analysed obesity related articles were gender specific yet women consumers were found to be more knowledgeable on obesity related information than men consumers.

Brazilian Journalism Research

This paper evaluates if Morin-Chartier’s content analysis, when adapted to Portuguese, can successfully be applied to texts on health and diet published in a Brazilian newspaper. This is a cross-section study. The texts were collected from the Brazilian newspaper O Dia between January 2014 and July 2015. Texts written on the subject of health and diet were analyzed, and specific software was used to evaluate how often they appeared in various categories. The method demonstrably categorizes and classifies different subjects within a single text, and thus helping to minimize any errors. A total of 1.668 information units were extracted from a collection of 341 journalistic texts. These information units focused on the effects foods have on the body and recommendations for which foods to consume. Most of these foods were in natura but there were some ultra-processed as well. The texts are taken from the Brazilian press, and the sources, when identified, are specialists on the subject. ...

Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 2018

The purpose of this study was to inform public policy opportunities to reduce childhood obesity by identifying parents' perceptions of factors contributing to childhood obesity, attribution of responsibility, and the extent of their support for public prevention policies with attention to socioeconomic status. Design and Methods: In 2015, 2066 parent-child dyads across socioeconomic strata from 43 randomly selected schools in Ankara completed surveys and measurements to examine perceptions, attribution, and prevention policies related to childhood obesity. Results: Parents across the socio-demographic spectrum recognized obesity as a serious problem. Unhealthy food availability was identified as the leading cause of while industry and media were credited with having the greatest responsibility for childhood obesity. There was strong public support for policy strategies targeting schools, marketing, and the built environment, though support tempered as socioeconomic status and parental education decreased. Conclusions: This survey provided insight into parents' knowledge and beliefs surrounding childhood obesity as well as their endorsement of related prevention strategies. Educational messages that address variations in SES to describe the causes of childhood obesity and connect those causes to actionable community prevention strategies may improve community support for enhanced policy actions within and beyond school settings.

Journalism, 2018

Obesity has become an ongoing focus of newspaper journalism. This study analyzes content published on this topic by Spanish dailies El País, La Vanguardia, and El Correo throughout 2015. During this 12-month period, these three newspapers published 183 news items that made some sort of reference to obesity, 59 percent of which were completely devoted to the problem. The research reported here has focused on identifying the dominant frames employed in this coverage.

Iranian journal of diabetes and obesity, 2021

Objective: Obesity is one of the major public health problems in Turkey and worldwide. This study was conducted to determine the trends of the obesity prevalence in Turkey from 2008 to 2016 by analysing sociodemographic data. Materials and Methods: This study was cross-sectional. Analysis was performed based on 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 data from Health Survey by Turkish Statistical Institute. Of the 128484 individuals who participated in Turkish Health Research, the body mass index (BMI) of 87205 individuals with aged 15 and older has been calculated. Categorical variables were represented as frequency (%) and continuous variables were represented as mean (±standard deviation) within parentheses. The data were analyzed with SPSS 20 software. Results: Our findings showed that 16.2% of the individuals 15 years and over was obese (18.7% among women and 13.5% among men P-value< 0.001) in 2008, and the prevalence increased to 22 % in 2016 (26% among women and 17% among men P-va...

2019

The 2017 prevalence of obesity among children (age 5-17 years) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is 13.68%. Childhood obesity is one of the 10 top health priorities in the UAE. This study examines the quality, frequency, sources, scope and framing of childhood obesity in popular social media and three leading UAE newspapers from 2014 to 2017. During the review period, 152 newspaper articles from three leading national newspapers-Gulf News, The National and Al Ittihad-met the eligibility criteria for this study. There were 57 Facebook posts, 50 Twitter posts, 14 posted YouTube videos, and 13 Media releases on related to childhood obesity between 2014 and 2017. Childhood obesity was consistently problematized, primarily in health terms, but was not strongly linked to socioeconomic and geographical factors. Childhood obesity was framed as being predominantly influenced by individual and parental behaviours more frequently (n = 76) compared with structural or environmental factors such as the roles of the food and beverage industry (n = 22). Unlike findings from studies with adult obesity, articles advocating individual behavior changes to address childhood obesity were relatively few (n = 29). Social media may be an effective way to help children overcome obesity, in part through online interaction with health care providers and health conscious obese peers. Areas for improvement in social media use to reduce childhood obesity prevalence in UAE include enhancing public engagement with social media posts on childhood obesity, as reflected in the numbers of Likes and Retweets or Shares.

Obesity Science & Practice, 2018

Objective Despite lower prevalence than most European countries, childhood obesity is a Swedish public health priority due to its lasting health impacts and socioeconomic patterning. Mass media content influences public and political perceptions of health issues, and media framing of childhood obesity may influence perceptions of its solutions. This study examines framing of childhood obesity in Swedish morning and evening newspapers from 1996 to 2014. Methods Content analysis of 726 articles about childhood obesity published in the five mostcirculated Swedish newspapers. Article content coded quantitatively and subjected to statistical analysis, describing relationships between themes and trends over time. Results Childhood obesity was consistently problematised, primarily in health terms, and linked to socioeconomic and geographical factors. The yearly frequency of articles peaked in 2004, followed by a decline, corresponding with evidence about prevalence. Childhood obesity was framed as being driven by individual behaviours more frequently than structural or environmental factors. Structural framings increased over time, but constructions of the problem as driven by individual behaviours, particularly parenting, remained prominent. Conclusions A relative growth in structural framings of causes and solutions over time, combined with prominent coverage of socioeconomic inequalities, might be indicative of public and political amenability towards societal-level solutions, but individual behaviours remain prominent in framing of the issue. Health advocates might incorporate these insights into media engagement.