Ethnicity, Genetics, and Breast Cancer: Media Portrayal of Disease Identities

Objective

Design

Results

Conclusions

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.

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.

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.

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.

Keywords:

• Genetics
• Breast Cancer
• Media Portrayal

The research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.