This qualitative analysis of the framing of health issues by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the world’s premier health organizations, and by major U.S. newspapers analyzes the frames present in a sample of the CDC’s press releases, and the frames present in the contemporaneous (and often resulting) press coverage. This study focuses on communication surrounding public health events that occurred in the six-year period 2002–2007.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Journalism and Media Studies Centre / Master / Master of Philosophy

In Tanzania development has been on the agenda for a long time and one of the steps that has been taken to try to affect change is through communication and information. Under the first president of Tanzania, Julius Nyere, the media was monopolized and utilized as a tool for the government to push its agenda for development. Today, however, the media looks a bit differ-ent from the time of Nyerere, with a majority of privately owned media. Despite the focus on development the situation in public health is still poor, with both communicable diseases (i.e. HIV/AIDS and malaria) and non-communicable diseases (i.e. cancer and diabetes) claiming a lot of premature deaths. This thesis is a minor field study, financed by a scholarship from the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). Its purpose is to examine the professional ideals of Tanzanian journalism today when it comes to health reporting and the development in public health. To fulfil this purpose interviews were conducted with journalists at three Anglophone daily newspapers (Daily News, The Citizen and The Guardian) in the economic capital, Dar es Salaam. Initially a quantitative content analysis was conducted. How the journalists feel that they can live up to their ideals and what obstacles they see in doing so was also examined. The study showed that the journalists want to contribute to the development, but that their ideals in how to do so differ. The most prevalent ideal was that the media should work to in­form and to educate the public. At the government owned newspaper, Daily News, the united front of the media and the government lived on. They felt responsible to stick to the govern­ment agenda. However, they also expressed that they felt responsible towards the ordinary people. The journalists felt that they could not live up to their ideals, especially the ideal of being the voice of the voiceless, because of the economic situation of the newspaper. The economic situation also affected the privately owned newspapers. The more active role of watchdog was more prevalent at these newspapers but was rarely practiced due to lack of resources. / Minor Field Study (Sida)

Background: Tobacco use increases the odds of suffering and dying prematurely from a host of chronic disease, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, lung diseases, and mental illness. There is limited published data especially from Canada on the prevalence, etiology, consumption patterns and treatment of tobacco use among persons with mental illness. Objectives: First, understand the social epidemiology and describe the characteristics of a typical smoker with mental illness. Second, understand the likelihood of receiving smoking cessation interventions in mental health institutions of Ontario. Methods: Secondary analysis of the data obtained using the Ontario Mental Health Reporting System (OMHRS). Census level data collected from all the individuals admitted to mental health institutions in Ontario during the period of October 2005 and September 2006. Cross tabs were used to analyze the social epidemiology of smokers. Odds ratios were calculated for the likelihood of the psychiatric diagnosis and receiving smoking cessation intervention. Results: Forty-seven percent of the individuals admitted in mental health beds during the study duration were smokers. The mean age of smokers was lower as compared to non-smokers. Individuals with the diagnosis of substance use disorder were the most likely to be smokers as compared to the reference group. Smokers scoring higher on CAGE score or having a diagnosis of substance use disorder and had more than 5 drinks of alcohol in the last 14 days are more likely to receive the intervention as compared to other smokers. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that significantly huge populations of individuals in mental health institutions are smokers. The smoking prevalence is higher in males and these males are also more likely to have a diagnosis of substance-related disorder. There is a lack of smoking cessation interventions in mental health facilities.

Background: Tobacco use increases the odds of suffering and dying prematurely from a host of chronic disease, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, lung diseases, and mental illness. There is limited published data especially from Canada on the prevalence, etiology, consumption patterns and treatment of tobacco use among persons with mental illness. Objectives: First, understand the social epidemiology and describe the characteristics of a typical smoker with mental illness. Second, understand the likelihood of receiving smoking cessation interventions in mental health institutions of Ontario. Methods: Secondary analysis of the data obtained using the Ontario Mental Health Reporting System (OMHRS). Census level data collected from all the individuals admitted to mental health institutions in Ontario during the period of October 2005 and September 2006. Cross tabs were used to analyze the social epidemiology of smokers. Odds ratios were calculated for the likelihood of the psychiatric diagnosis and receiving smoking cessation intervention. Results: Forty-seven percent of the individuals admitted in mental health beds during the study duration were smokers. The mean age of smokers was lower as compared to non-smokers. Individuals with the diagnosis of substance use disorder were the most likely to be smokers as compared to the reference group. Smokers scoring higher on CAGE score or having a diagnosis of substance use disorder and had more than 5 drinks of alcohol in the last 14 days are more likely to receive the intervention as compared to other smokers. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that significantly huge populations of individuals in mental health institutions are smokers. The smoking prevalence is higher in males and these males are also more likely to have a diagnosis of substance-related disorder. There is a lack of smoking cessation interventions in mental health facilities.

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Introduction: Cancer registries collect tumor-related data to monitor incident rates and support population-based research. A common concern with using population-based registry data for research is reporting timeliness. Data timeliness have been recognized as an important data characteristic by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Yet, few recent studies in the United States (U.S.) have systemically measured timeliness. The goal of this research is to evaluate the quality of cancer data and examine methods by which the reporting process can be improved. The study aims are: 1- evaluate the timeliness of cancer cases at the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) Cancer Registry, 2- identify the perceived barriers and facilitators to timely reporting, and 3- reengineer the current reporting process to improve turnaround time. Method: For Aim 1: Using the ISDH dataset from 2000 to 2009, we evaluated the reporting timeliness and subtask within the process cycle. For Aim 2: Certified cancer registrars reporting for ISDH were invited to a semi-structured interview. The interviews were recorded and qualitatively analyzed. For Aim 3: We designed a reengineered workflow to minimize the reporting timeliness and tested it using simulation. Result: The results show variation in the mean reporting time, which ranged from 426 days in 2003 to 252 days in 2009. The barriers identified were categorized into six themes and the most common barrier was accessing medical records at external facilities. We also found that cases reside for a few months in the local hospital database while waiting for treatment data to become available. The recommended workflow focused on leveraging a health information exchange for data access and adding a notification system to inform registrars when new treatments are available.

No description available.