- Title
- A quantitative analysis of the quality and content of the health advice in popular Australian magazines
- Creator
- Wilson, Amanda; Smith, David; Peel, Roseanne; Robertson, Jane; Kypri, Kypros
- Relation
- NHMRC.1041867 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1041867
- Relation
- Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health Vol. 41, Issue 3, p. 256-258
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12617
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- Objective: To examine how health advice is provided in popular magazines and the quality of that advice. Methods: A prospective quantitative analysis of the quality of health advice provided in Australian magazines between July and December 2011 was conducted. A rating instrument was adapted from the Media Doctor Australia rating tool used to assess quality of health news reporting. Criteria included: recommends seeing a doctor; advice based on reliable evidence; advice clear and easily applied; benefits presented meaningfully; potential harms mentioned; evidence of disease mongering; availability and cost of treatments; obvious advertising; vested interest, and anecdotal evidence. Results: 163 health advice articles were rated showing a wide variation in the quality of advice presented between magazines. Magazines with ‘health’ in the title, rated most poorly with only 36% (26/73) of these articles presenting clear and meaningful advice and 52% (38/73) giving advice based on reliable evidence. Conclusions: Australian magazines, especially those with health in the title, generally presented poor quality, unreliable health advice. Teen magazine Dolly provided the highest quality advice. Implications: Consumers need to be aware of this when making health choices.
- Subject
- life expectancy; efficiency; data envelopment analysis; Māori; New Zealand
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1332136
- Identifier
- uon:26789
- Identifier
- ISSN:1753-6405
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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