Representation and Effects of Responsibility Frames for Health Topics: A Comparison of the Relevance of the Individual, the Social Network, and the Society

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Social support by social networks is a crucial factor for the emergence and the therapy of a variety of diseases and health-related behaviors. Despite the pivotal role of social support for individual health, the focus within the health care system as well as in health news coverage is first and foremost on medical treatment of diseases. In addition, content analyses of media frames as well as media effects studies are often limited to investigating responsibility frames that focus on either individual or societal causes and solutions for diseases and health-related behaviors, while the responsibility of the social network is mostly neglected. To bridge this research gap, the present project aims at exploring the relevance and effects of responsibility frames in health news coverage and specific online health information and to chart the status of social support through social networks therein. Over the course of a three year empirical research project, the prevalence and effects of responsibility frames in health news coverage for three different health topics (diabetes, depression, physical activity) will be assessed. To do so, we combine data from a content analysis of print media over the course of 14 years, as well the most available online health information on the three health topics, with data from an experiment, in which the identified responsibility frames are tested for their effects on audiences. By doing so, the project will contribute to improve our understanding of how mass media contribute to the acceptance of social support within the treatment of different diseases such as depression, or diabetes, and for raising the awareness of social support within the group of potential caregivers. On a theoretical conceptual level, the combination of social support as a wellestablished concept within health psychology with responsibility framing in the media carves out the relevance of media on this level. Thereby, this project theoretically contributes to specifying a generic responsibility frame in health news coverage of different health topics. Consequently, the relevance of social networks is differentiated more specifically from the influences of individual or societal factors.