Interventions to improve media coverage of medical research: a codesigned feasibility and acceptability study with Australian journalists.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101552874 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2044-6055 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20446055 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMJ Open Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: [London] : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2011-
    • Subject Terms:
      Biomedical Research* ; Mass Media*; Australia ; Feasibility Studies ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires
    • Abstract:
      Objectives: Although the media can influence public perceptions and utilisation of healthcare, journalists generally receive no routine training in interpreting and reporting on medical research. Given growing evidence about the problems of medical overuse, the need for quality media reporting has become a greater priority. This study aimed to codesign and assess the feasibility of a multicomponent training intervention for journalists in Australia.
      Design: A small pragmatic feasibility study using a pre- and postdesign.
      Setting: 90 min online workshop.
      Participants: Eight journalists currently working in Australia, recruited through the study's journalist advisor and existing contacts of the researchers.
      Intervention: The training intervention covered a range of topics, including study designs, conflicts of interest, misleading medical statistics, population screening and overdiagnosis. The intervention also provided tools to help journalists with reporting, including a Tip Sheet and list of expert contacts in health and medicine. Preworkshop and postworkshop questionnaires were administered via Qualtrics.
      Measures: Acceptability and feasibility of the intervention, and journalists' knowledge of overdiagnosis and common issues with health stories. Quantitative results were analysed descriptively using SPSS. Qualitative data were thematically analysed.
      Results: All participants completed preworkshop and postworkshop questionnaires, and 6 completed the 6-week follow-up (75% retention). Feasibility findings suggest the intervention is acceptable and relevant to journalists, with participants indicating the workshop increased confidence with reporting on medical research. We observed increases in knowledge preworkshop to postworkshop for all knowledge measures on overdiagnosis and common issues with media coverage of medicine. Analysis of free-text responses identified several areas for improvement, such as including more examples to aid understanding of the counterintuitive topic of overdiagnosis and more time for discussion.
      Conclusions: Piloting suggested the multicomponent training intervention is acceptable to journalists and provided important feedback and insights to inform a future trial of the intervention's impact on media coverage of medicine.
      (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
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    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: education & training (see medical education & training); medical education & training; public health
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20220617 Date Completed: 20220621 Latest Revision: 20220716
    • Publication Date:
      20231215
    • Accession Number:
      PMC9207948
    • Accession Number:
      10.1136/bmjopen-2022-062706
    • Accession Number:
      35715183