MENTAL HEALTH IMAGES ON THE INTERNET: A FACEBOOK AND DIGITAL MEDIA CONTENT ANALYSIS IN SPANISH

• Published in: Prisma social no. 29; pp. 240 - 259
• Main Authors: Vengut Climent, Empar, Moreno Castro, Carolina, Cano Orón, Lorena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madrid iS+D Fundacion 01.04.2020
• Subjects: Content analysis; Digital broadcasting; Digital media; Facebook; Human rights; Information sources; Internet; Mental disorders; Mental health; Mental health care; Social networks; Stigma; Violence; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Spain
• ISSN: 1989-3469; 1989-3469

This work analyses the mental health image in Spanish in digital media and social networks after the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 32/1 8, on mental health and human rights, on July 1, 2016. A standardised content analysis was performed from a sample of 370 news items published during six months, between August 2016 and January 2017, to determine if the journalistic treatment of the stories was positive, negative, equidistant or institutional. Likewise, 352 Facebook pages were studied, with the same analysis criteria as digital media. Among the most outstanding results, it was found that only 53% (n = 196) of the articles analysed addressed mental health directly. Of them, 40% (n = 79) treated it positively while 26% (n = 50) still referred to mental health negatively. Besides, there was a high percentage of articles in which mental health was treated metaphorically, 18% (n = 35), also contributing negatively stories to the stigmatisation of mental illnesses. The analysis of the Facebook pages showed a low proportion of positive treatment of mental health , only 5% (n = 18), and the content of 61% of the sample studied (n = 215) had nothing to do with mental health.