Health Communication –a health content analysis of the main national Swedish newspapers from a Public Health perspective.

Abstract: The mass media are a powerful way to disseminate health information to the entire population. Newspapers are the media with most impact in Sweden and can convey health news and breakthroughs more thoroughly than television or radio, and more quickly than magazines. Newspapers in Sweden have a high amount of readers compared with other European countries. The purpose of this essay is to analyse the space related to health found in the Swedish newspapers and to discuss what readers consume about health. This study is based on an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, inductive reasoning and quantitative scientific approach. The sample was constituted by daily editions from three major Swedish newspapers selected during one month –Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter and Göteborgs-Posten. The main findings show that newspapers included 2.4% on the average of health contents (HC), being Svenska Dagbladet the one with most publications (3.3%). HC used to be published within the first pages, the median is in page 13 and the main mode in page 4. 81.3% of all contents were written by journalists, and, in 73.6% of all contents, writers used sources of information. Most frequent topics were 25 about cancer, 19 about alcohol, 19 about euthanasia and 19 about sick leave at work. Besides, contents dealt with the following main public health areas: 105 with health management, 100 with health policy and 90 with epidemiology. Newspapers in Sweden are clear ways of delivering health information to the population and they might influence to Public Health. Therefore, it’s a need to increase the number of health specialist journalists