title: Narrativity and the mediation of health reform agendas.
abstract: Over the last two decades the repositioning of state-funded health systems and the increased use of private services have been the focus of extensive public debate. This paper explores the ways in which media coverage of healthcare reform is made sense of by lower socio-economic status (SES) audiences. We presented television documentaries to participants and analysed their accounts from focus group discussions following the viewing. We explore these discussions as shared social spaces within which participants work through the dilemmas posed by the reforms. In exploring reception as a storytelling process, we link audience and lay beliefs research and investigate how aspects of television coverage are appropriated by viewers to make sense of the causes and implications of healthcare reform.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ. dhdgetts@waikato.ac.nz
authors.forename: Darrin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hodgetts
authors.forename: Kerry
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chamberlain
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D009520:New Zealand; D011332:Privatization; D012923:Social Class; D012941:Social Responsibility