Preventive health care and the media

Certain affirmations can have a profound effect on the hopes and fears one can have about health and the promise of medicine. Screening for disease directly echoes what most wish for their care--that is, early detection of diseases leading to longer survival with less pain and no lasting undesirable...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian family physician 2020-11, Vol.66 (11), p.811-816
Main Authors: Thériault, Guylène, Breault, Pascale, Dickinson, James A, Grad, Roland, Bell, Neil R, Singh, Harminder, Szafran, Olga
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Family physicians
Intervention
Medical screening
Prevention in Practice
Preventive medicine
Primary care
Social networks
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Summary:Certain affirmations can have a profound effect on the hopes and fears one can have about health and the promise of medicine. Screening for disease directly echoes what most wish for their care--that is, early detection of diseases leading to longer survival with less pain and no lasting undesirable effects. Evidence suggests that most people--including physicians--tend to overestimate benefits and underestimate harms of health interventions, including screening. The media plays a special role--often unrecognized and thus unaddressed--in shaping our views and expectations toward health care and the outcomes of screening. Physicians and patients need to be aware of the shortcomings that affect media reports on screening interventions. As physicians, they owe it to their patients to be familiar with common reporting shortcomings and how they affect coverage of preventive health care.
ISSN:0008-350X
1715-5258