Sociological Concepts of Health Issues in Media - Essay Example

?The Sociological Concepts of Health Issues in Media Media, in the forms of newspaper articles, movies or radio programs, among others, can strongly influence the views and opinion of the public. The capacity of an innocent newspaper headline or a television sitcom to convey deeper messages to its readers or viewers is based on an idea that the author has purposely embedded in the medium. Different social concepts are often used to construct a story that will reflect the purpose or propaganda behind it. These concepts would then encourage the audience to evaluate what they have read, watched or heard, and form a reaction for or against the certain topic. (Keen, 1999). For this particular essay, a newspaper article regarding mental health issues on toddlers was used to analyse social concepts that are present in the medium. On the news headline entitled “Tantrum or Mental Illness?” published at The Sun-Herald on June 10, 2012, the new federal government program of screening three-year old children for early signs of mental illness called the Healthy Kids Check was discussed. The behaviours to be observed as signs of mental or psychological problems include sleeping only when the lights are on, temper tantrums or extreme shyness. Although the program will be able to help a large number of the children population, many are hesitant for possible misdiagnosis and mislabelling. Most parents, as well as experts working on children, are afraid that the kids will be subjected to medications even if they do not need it, for the sake of the success of the clinical trials. To counter these reluctances of the public, the article quoted Professor Frank Oberklaid of the centre for community child health at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital saying, “Many parents and preschool teachers face behaviours in children that are challenging and cause stress and distress. We also know that thankfully many of these are transient but we can’t predict in a particular child which ones are going to disappear and which ones are going to go on and cause mental health problems. What we’re really doing is having a more systematic way of finding out those kids who are causing difficulties and doing something about it.” (Stark, 2012, p. 4). Aside from testing the children of psychological illness, the program is also going to evaluate other developmental problems like hearing, eyesight and allergies. Oberklaid is optimistic about the results of the program and has already laid out a checklist of potentially troubling behaviours exhibiting anxieties and emotional disorders of toddlers. In the accompanying article, “How a Shy Boy is Learning to Conquer his Anxiety” (Browne, 2012), Deborah Smith, a mother of a four-year old boy showing extreme shyness and anxiety towards adults was interviewed regarding her thoughts on the Healthy Kids Check program of the government. Smith agrees with the purpose of the program, stressing that the psychological assessment will definitely help troubled kids to cope with their issues when done at an early stage. Associate Professor Jennifer Hudson supported the program stating, “Anxiety in the preschool years is most likely to predict anxiety in adolescence and adulthood.” (Brown, 2012, p. 4). Hudson noted that mental health issues can be prevented from developing further when treated while the person is still young. Meanings of stories published or shown by means of the media can be conveyed using language, headlines and images. Society is mainly impacted with what they remark through the available media. According to Bryant and Oliver (2009), the computer the television, the internet and the radio are not only equipment that convey information, but are representations that can be utilized to conceptualize reality. Presently, information is readily available from numerous forms of media, making it accessible to a larger audience. While technology is shaping the revolution of information dissemination, the content as the basic elements of communication remains the same. In the featured headline, the attention of the reader is set to focus on the disturbing photo of a crying toddler with a title suggesting the behaviour of the said child as a sign of mental illness. The readers, especially parents with children of their own will have the impulse to read the headline and the accompanying article since they can identify with the subject. Newspaper headlines are significant in summarizing and presenting the core of the subject. The jargons and expressions that it consists will also set the effectiveness of the headline. Once the media catches the attention of the reader, the language used in the article will then describe the essence of the article in order to convince the cognitive and emotional responses of the reader (Keen, 1999). In addition, newspapers use the presentation style of language formal and serious; however they sometimes adopt styles depending on specific genre of consumers. Sherpa (2012, p. 4) noted, “Through the written word, the newspaper has the power to use language to its advantage as a lasting impression can be made in the minds of those who read the news articles.” Language is responsible for conveying the information and motive of the author, for entertaining and for creating awareness to the viewers. Other forms of media particularly television and the electronic media or the internet are stronger vehicles of information for they reach a wider audience. For the newspaper article, television program or blog to effectively convey their information, different sociological concepts are incorporated to the structure of the available media. Social information filtering deals with identifying information deemed interesting to specific users. This concept targets a particular group by presenting a topic which they can relate to (Benford, 1997). Going back to the featured article, parents of toddlers exhibiting tantrums and other signs of anxiety are filtered by providing a headline encompassing the common behaviours of their kids. Another concept utilized in “Tantrum or Mental Illness” is framing, or the social construction of a social occurrence through media in which the perception of a person is selectively influenced by expressing suitable statements based on concepts and theoretical perspectives of the author. The frames concept is conveyed either in thought, which includes interpretations, mental representations, among others, and in communication, which refers to the communication of frames between the participants (Druckman 2001). As a result, observers analyse a statement using mental filters to understand the underlying message, thus the frames set by the media influence the interpretation of the message (Entman, 1993). Moreover, discourse is another sociological concept evident on the featured article. Discourse refers to written and verbal communications utilized to transfer data and knowledge through internal and external relations (Foucault, 1970). In social sciences, discourse is articulated by means of language or speech to express interpretations and observations. It presents theories that define reality, which in turn deliver the vocabulary and style to connect (Schryer and Spoel, 2005). Furthermore, social constructionism and sociological imagination are also sociological concepts of media present in the article. Sociological constructionism refers to the concept of developing consciousness of a group based on reality and knowledge focusing on a social phenomenon. According to Burr (1995), social constructionism persistently reaffirms the objects of knowledge in order to institutionalize social phenomena. On the other hand, sociological imagination involves the description of a perception to explain its nature and importance. Sociological concerns are answered by imagining or visualizing the possible solutions with the help of social context, actions and actors. Hence, the observer will imbibe whatever the actions or context applied in the available media, their values to be influenced by the outcomes of how the situations are handled by the actors. Testing three-year old children for psychological problems is the main topic of the featured article. In a sociological perception, mental illness is considered as a health condition in which I sick person is being sympathized by society as long as that person is seeking treatment. To categorize an individual as being sick, the illness must be determined by diagnosing the disease. Society has judged numerous treatments in the past but later distinguished them as legitimate. The perception of the society to the type of ailment also relies on the nature of the said illness or on how it can be acquired. In the case of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS and HIV, society has previously recognized these ailments as illegitimate for the reason of immorality. However, these diseases were eventually accepted as legitimate as proper information and knowledge about AIDS and HIV were known to the public (Rosenthal, 2008). Moreover, mental illness is still regarded by society with reluctance in acceptance and understanding. Although breakthroughs in mental health researches and innovations on its treatment are continuously being developed, the stigma that comes with mentally-ill people still underlies in the depths of public insight. Today, several medicines are known to treat mental illness, if not reduce its accompanying symptoms. Aside from mental health facilities, some communities are already accepting treated mental health patients as long as they are regularly checked by their doctors. Still, there remain a number of communities that do not condone the establishment of group homes for recovered mental health patients due to misconceptions and discriminations. On top of these, problems with insurance companies, danger of being homeless, and difficulty in finding jobs are other concerns of recovering mental-ill persons (Rosenthal, 2008). In the case of toddlers exhibiting tantrums that are considered as signs of a psychological disorder, experts are wary that mislabelling and misdiagnosis could expose the children to a dilemma pressed by society when they grow up. Stereotyping is common in news reporting. High profile cases, particularly those that are products of unlikely circumstances such as violence caused by mental health patients, are used by media to shape the perception and opinion of the public by embellishing and overstating the facts to make the story more inviting. Because of the tendency of society to label and create misconceptions to contemporary health issues, health care workers are expected to be aware of media coverage most especially when dealing with serious and sensitive cases. They should handle their patients’ records with care and outmost secrecy (Rosenthal, 2008). Nevertheless, media shapes the attitude of society towards a story, an event, or a statement. Sociological concepts are used to set and develop the available media in influencing an individual or groups of people into recognizing the idea being conveyed to them and affect their own values, knowledge or views in the long run. How a news headline or television show is produced with images, texts and language appropriate enough to catch attention will determine the capacity of the medium to impact, if not inspire, an observer. Bibliography Benford, R. (1997). An insider’s critique of the social movement framing perspective. Sociological Inquiry. 67, pp. 409-430. Browne, R. (2012). How a shy boy is learning to conquer his anxiety. The Sun-Herald, 10 June, p.4. Bryant, J. & Oliver, B. (2009). Advances in theory and research. 3rd ed. New York, Routledge. Burr, V. (1995). An introduction to social constructionism. London, Routledge. Druckman, J. (2001). The implications of framing effects of citizen competence. Political Behaviour. 23 (3), pp. 225-256. Entman, R. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication. 43, pp. 42 -57. Foucault, M. (1970). The order of things. Pantheon. Keen, M. (1999). Stalking the sociological imagination: J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI surveillance of American sociology. Westport, Greenwood. Rosenthal, S. (2008). Mental illness or social sickness? [Internet], Dissident Voice. Available from: < http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/mental-illness-or-social-sickness/> [Accessed 18 September 2012). Schryer, C. & Spoel, P. (2005). Genre theory, health-care discourse, and professional identity formation. Journal of Business and Technical Communication. pp. 14-160. Sherpa, P. (2012). A study on strategic use of language in newspaper headlines. MSC thesis, Christ University. Stark, J. (2012). Preschool mental health checks. The Sun-Herald, 10 June, p.4. Read More