Discourse analysis of the written press reports regarding rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis

Abstract

The management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis (PS/PsA) has radically changed during the last decade modifying physicians' perception about those diseases. However, if communication and transfer of information, from doctors to patients, is not efficient, patients' perception could be influenced by other sources of information. The aim of this study is to analyze newspaper articles about RA or Ps/PsA published in the Argentinean written press between 1995 and 2010. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of all press articles that mentioned RA or Ps/PsA either on the headlines or in the text of the digital versions of the three main Argentinean newspapers from 1995 to 2010 were analyzed. A total of 166 press articles were analyzed; of these, 65.7 % of the articles were informative and the remaining were testimonials. Ninety-five articles were considered positives (57.2 %). Informative articles were positive with more frequency than the testimonials (64.2 vs. 43.9 %, p 0.02). Press articles that mentioned a new treatment were positive more frequently than those that did not mention it (78.3 vs. 49.2 %, p 0.001). Balanced articles included the opinion of, at least, one specialist in 84.2 versus the 48.1 % of the not balanced (p 0.02). Articles about RA and Ps/APs in Argentina tended to be positive all along the study period. A positive result was more frequent in those articles, which informed about a new treatment. The inclusion of the opinion of a professional is not associated with a positive result, although it is to a balanced article.