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Biomedical subjects

Simon Chapman

Publications and source records attributed to Simon Chapman.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

'The cold hard facts' immunisation and vaccine preventable diseases in Australia's newsprint media 1993-1998.

The news media have the potential to influence public perceptions about childhood vaccination. Research has quantified the extent of positive news reportage on immunisation but no studies have explored the rhetorical nature and the core appeals that characterise positive reportage. To complement our previous research on the rhetorical nature of anti-immunisation reportage, this paper reviews positive coverage of immunisation in over four and a half years of Australian newsprint media. Three core topics dominated the reportage; the problem of vaccine preventable diseases and low immunisation rates, notions of who is responsible and the implied solutions. The threat of vaccine preventable diseases was conveyed using panic language, disease personification, quantification rhetoric, stories of personal tragedies and portentous tales from yesteryear. Attribution for low immunisation rates ranged from blaming parents to blaming lack of government coordination. However, most blame framed individuals as responsible. The most popular spokespersons were representatives of professional medical bodies who tended to be cast as voices of authority, castigating the ignorance and apathy of parents. Urging of compulsory vaccination, pleas for parents to immunise their children and the provision of information about vaccine preventable diseases were the most frequently occurring implied solutions. Immunisation was promoted as a modern medical miracle, health professionals were portrayed as soldiers in the fight against killer diseases and urges to immunise were usually conveyed through the use of stern directives. Understanding how immunisation messages are framed in the media and the core values to which those messages appeal highlights opportunities for media advocates to enhance desired messages and reframe those which are considered antipathetic to the goals of public health advocacy.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Environmental tobacco smoke research published in the journal Indoor and Built Environment and associations with the tobacco industry.

In the late 1980s, the international tobacco industry assisted in the establishment of the International Society of the Built Environment, which published the journal Indoor and Built Environment. Using evidence from tobacco industry documents, we examine the industry associations of the Society's executive, the journal's editor and board, and the extent to which the journal publishes papers on environmental tobacco smoke that would be deemed favourable by the tobacco industry. The society's executive has been dominated by paid consultants to the tobacco industry: all six members in 1992 and seven of eight members in 2002 had financial associations through industry lawyers. 67% of the editorial board in 1992 and 66% in 2002 had histories of financial associations with the tobacco industry. 61% (40/66) of papers related to environmental tobacco smoke published in Indoor and Built Environment in the study period reached conclusions that could be judged to be industry-positive. Of these, 90% (36/40) had at least one author with a history of association with the tobacco industry. The executive of the International Society of the Built Environment and the editorial board of Indoor and Built Environment are in large part consisted of people with histories of consultancies to the tobacco industry. On the basis of the evidence presented in this paper, there is a serious concern the tobacco industry may have been unduly influential on the content of the journal.

Air Pollution, Indoor↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An analysis of newspaper reports of cancer breakthroughs: hope or hype?

OBJECTIVE: To assess the importance of cancer "breakthroughs" reported in the popular media 10 years after their publication. STUDY DESIGN: Questionnaire-based survey in 2003 of expert opinion on the importance of all alleged cancer "breakthroughs" in cancer research or treatment reported in news articles in The Sydney Morning Herald between 1992 and 1994. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Assessment of each "breakthrough" by an expert in the relevant cancer subspecialty on seven measures of current importance. RESULTS: 31 unique reports of alleged cancer "breakthroughs" were identified, and experts responded to questionnaires on 30. Thirteen of these 30 reports (43%) were judged as not having been supported by further research in the following decade, with three (10%) having been refuted, while 16 (53%) were judged to remain potential breakthroughs, but more research was required. Eight "breakthroughs" (27%) had, or would soon be, incorporated into practice. CONCLUSION: Cancer research findings reported in newspapers as "breakthroughs" are often not true breakthroughs but may be important for ongoing research. Consumers are likely to be receiving an overly optimistic picture of progress in understanding and treating cancer.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Never say die?

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Smoking status of 132,176 people advertising on a dating website. Are smokers more "desperate and dateless"?

OBJECTIVE: To determine (i) whether people advertising themselves on a dating website were more likely to be smokers than members of the general population; and (ii) whether attractive advertisers (those whose ads were viewed most often) were less likely to smoke than all advertisers. DESIGN: Comparison of the number of advertisers who smoke with survey data on national smoking status. SETTING: "RSVP", Australia's largest web-based dating site (455,196 members on 12 October 2004). PARTICIPANTS: 132,176 advertisements accessed on 10 February 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Smoking status; and "votes" for advertisers' attractiveness based on how often visitors to the site accessed individual advertisements. RESULTS: In every age group, there were higher proportions of women smokers among the advertisers than in the general population (P < 0.05), and this was also the case for men aged 50 years and over. There was a higher proportion of non-smokers in the "Top 100" men or women advertisers aged 20-29 years (82%) compared with total RSVP advertisers in this age group (67%) (P < 0.001). 85% of the men and 78% of the women in the two "Top 100" groups were non-smokers, with only 2% of both sexes claiming to be regular smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the general population, a higher proportion of women and older men who advertise themselves on a dating website are smokers. Smokers may be perceived as less attractive.

Adult↗