Calling Dr. Internet

Analyzing News Coverage of Cyberchondria

Bibliographic Data

ID12909235
AuthorsHan Zheng (0000-0003-4032-4299, Nanyang Technological University, corresponding author), Edson C Tandoc (0000-0002-8740-9313, Nanyang Technological University)
Year2020
Volume16
Issue5
Pages1001-1017
Publication date2020-09-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-2786 • E-ISSN: 1751-2794
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17512786.2020.1824586
OpenAlexW3089138143
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited33

Introduced and popularized by the news media, cyberchondria refers to excessive online health information searches associated with escalation of health anxiety. It has since received attention from researchers and health professionals. While many studies have focused on investigating the relationship between increased health anxiety and excessive online information seeking as well as factors associated with cyberchondria, there remains little knowledge regarding how the media represent cyberchondria, despite the fact that cyberchondria as a term was popularized by the news media. Through a discourse analysis of 148 news articles, this exploratory study examines the ways the news media defined and portrayed cyberchondria. While news coverage offers various ways to define and label cyberchondria, many news reports recognize that cyberchondria is a multi-level issue that requires multidimensional efforts from patients, doctors and technologies

Anxiety · The Internet · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Empathy and Medical Education · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

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