Chilean Digital Press Coverage of the Relation between Diet and Mental Health

Ruben Sanchez-Sabate, Esteban Zunino, Yasna Badilla-Briones, Natalia Celedon Celis and Daniel Caro Saldías
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Ruben Sanchez-Sabate: Centro de Excelencia en Psicología Económica y del Consumo (CEPEC), Núcleo Científico y Tecnológico en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile
Esteban Zunino: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza 5500, Argentina
Yasna Badilla-Briones: Departamento de Psicología, Facultad de Educación, Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile
Natalia Celedon Celis: Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile
Daniel Caro Saldías: Dirección de Bibliotecas y Recursos de Información, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: Chile has a serious public health problem due to the high prevalence of both unhealthy dietary patterns and mental illnesses. Given that dietary quality is positively associated with the quality of mental health, it is urgent that healthy dietary patterns be promoted among Chileans. The WHO recommends the use of mass media for the dissemination of knowledge about mental health. Since health news affect people’s attitudes and health behaviors, this study analyzed the coverage by three Chilean online newspapers with the largest readership regarding the relation between diet and mental health in 2016. A previously constructed corpus of 2551 news items about food was analyzed quantitatively. The results show that the relevance of the topic diet and mental health was low in all three newspapers. The most frequent type of information was on “foods” and not “nutrients” that “benefit”—not that “damage”—mental health. The quality of the news was poor as a narrow range of sources was found. An individual responsibility frame predominated in the information to the detriment of a public health frame.

Keywords: health communication; mass media; nutritional psychiatry; mental health; dietary patterns; food; public health; digital press; journalism; Chile (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2273-:d:505775

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