Ethnicity, genetics, and breast cancer: media portrayal of disease identities.
OBJECTIVE
To describe, compare, and analyze how the risk of breast cancer is framed in newspapers directed towards an ethnic minority population (Jewish) with higher risk of inherited breast cancer compared with newspaper coverage for the general population (Anglo-Canadian) without this risk.


METHODS
This investigation utilized a mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) approach. The design emphasized a content analysis conducted on ethnically specific and non-ethnic newspaper articles.


RESULTS
It is noteworthy that the 'Jewish' newspapers devote a substantially larger proportion of articles on breast cancer to genetic risk as the key risk factor for this disease. Articles in the Jewish newspapers tend to link being a Jewish woman with being at risk for a diagnosis of breast cancer. This ethnic 'identity' is reinforced through the repeated association of Jewish heritage and genetic breast cancer risk at the exclusion of other known risk factors. This isolated genetic link to breast cancer is not a message that is replicated within the provincial newsprint articles.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings assist in the facilitation of prevention and treatment of those with or at risk of breast cancer. The health policy implications of this portrayal as well as suggestions for change are considered.
Donelle
L
L
Department of Health Studies and Gerontology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2l 3G1. lhgoetz@uwaterloo.ca
Hoffman-Goetz
L
L
Clarke
J N
JN
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors