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. 2022 Jul 1;18(7):1769-1778.
doi: 10.5664/jcsm.9966.

Portrayals of narcolepsy from 1980 to 2020: a descriptive analysis of stigmatizing content in newspaper articles

Giorgia Varallo  1 , Luca Pingani  2   3   4 , Alessandro Musetti  5 , Gian Maria Galeazzi  2   4 , Fabio Pizza  6   7 , Gianluca Castelnuovo  8   9 , Giuseppe Plazzi  2   7 , Christian Franceschini  10
Affiliations

Portrayals of narcolepsy from 1980 to 2020: a descriptive analysis of stigmatizing content in newspaper articles

Giorgia Varallo et al. J Clin Sleep Med. .

Abstract

Study objectives: The media are the primary sources of information about health for the public. The media portrayal of narcolepsy might contribute to the stigmatization of people affected by this condition. This study aimed to describe how narcolepsy is portrayed in newspapers.

Methods: We collected 257 newspaper articles from the digital archive of La Stampa published between 1980 and 2020 that mentioned key search terms. The content was assessed using an ad hoc coding schema developed to evaluate the presence of sensationalistic title, negative language, stigmatizing content, stereotypical description, disclosure of a person diagnosed with narcolepsy, person with narcolepsy described as dangerous, presence of an accurate diagnosis, identifiable symptoms, indications about diagnostic and treatment services. Chi-square analysis was performed to identify changes over time in the type of content.

Results: In 10.9% of the articles, there was a sensationalistic title; inappropriate, negative, and outdated language appeared in 10.5% of the articles. Stigmatizing and stereotypical content was reported in 19.5% and 14.8% of the articles, respectively. In 62.3% of the articles, it was disclosed that a person had narcolepsy, and in 5.1% of the articles patients with narcolepsy were described as dangerous. The presence of an accurate diagnosis was referred to in 30.4% of the articles, while 16.7% described identifiable symptoms. Services for diagnosis and treatment were mentioned in 24.1% of the articles. Changes over time in the content of articles are discussed.

Conclusions: Our findings highlight areas for improvement in the media portrayal of narcolepsy and could help guide the development of new targeted anti-stigma campaigns.

Citation: Varallo G, Pingani L, Musetti A, et al. Portrayals of narcolepsy from 1980 to 2020: a descriptive analysis of stigmatizing content in newspaper articles. J Clin Sleep Med. 2022;18(7):1769-1778.

Keywords: health-related stigma; media; narcolepsy; stigma.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors have seen and approved the final manuscript. Work for this study was performed at the Department of Biomedical, Metabolic, and Neural Sciences, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy. G.P.’s research is supported by Takeda, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Bioproject, and Idorsia. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Total number of articles across the decades.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Presence of a sensationalistic title.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Presence of stigmatizing content.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Disclosure of a person with narcolepsy.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Presence of an accurate diagnosis of narcolepsy.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Description of identifiable symptoms.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Presence of indications about diagnostic and treatment services.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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