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Development of the PICMIN (picture of mental illness in newspapers): instrument to assess mental illness stigma in print media

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to report on the development and applicability of a standardised and objective measure of stigma of mental illness in print media. Picture of mental illness in newspapers (PICMIN) instrument consists of eleven descriptive and five analytical categories. It is intended to allow comparison among countries and different studies over time.

Methods

The research team conducted a three-phase study to develop the instrument based on the principles of content analysis and test its inter-coder reliability (ICR). In the first phase, keyword search and ICR assessment was performed on articles from Croatia (75), Czech Republic (203), and Slovakia (172). The second phase consisted of instrument revision and training, along with ICR reassessment on 40 articles from USA and UK. In the third, main phase articles from Croatia (238), Czech Republic (226), and Slovakia (158) were analysed with the final version of the PICMIN instrument.

Results

Across three countries, ICR was found acceptable to assess mental illness representations related to stigma in print media. Print media representations of the mental illness in Croatia, Czech Republic, and Slovakia significantly differed in the type of media distribution, whether headline of the article was positioned on the media cover, in the use of a sensationalistic style of writing, in the association of aggressive behaviour with persons with mental illness and in the distribution of the global impression of the headline.

Conclusions

PICMIN instrument allows comparison among countries and different studies over time.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our senior advisors Prof. Howard Goldman, Prof. Stephen Hinshaw, Prof. Graham Thornicroft and Prof. Jiří Raboch for their unwavering support and our whole ‘Media project’ team. This project was prepared within the ‘Finance and Mental Health Services Training in Czech Republic/Central Europe’ programme sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health John E. Fogarty International Center (5 D43 TW005810-07).

Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Andrija Štampar School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Rockefellerova 4, 10 000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Tea Vukušić Rukavina & Ognjen Brborović

  2. Department of Psychiatry, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Alexander Nawka, Lucie Nawková, Bibiána Bednárová, Svetlana Žuchová & Marie Hrodková

  3. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Nikolina Jovanović & Martina Rojnić Kuzman

  4. Prague Psychiatric Center, Prague, Czech Republic

    Zuzana Lattová

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  1. Tea Vukušić Rukavina
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  2. Alexander Nawka
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  3. Ognjen Brborović
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  4. Nikolina Jovanović
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Correspondence to Tea Vukušić Rukavina.

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Rukavina, T.V., Nawka, A., Brborović, O. et al. Development of the PICMIN (picture of mental illness in newspapers): instrument to assess mental illness stigma in print media. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47, 1131–1144 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-011-0419-z

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