Diabetes Coverage in Mass-Circulating Women's Magazines, 1995-2001

This review evaluates the accuracy of diabetes mellitus coverage in selected mass-circulating women's magazines from 1995 through 2001. The ProQuest database was searched to obtain all citations from five women's magazines ("Better Homes and Gardens," "Good Housekeeping," "Ladies' Home Journal," "Family Circle," and "Woman's Day") and three magazines with a large African-American audience ("Ebony," "Essence," and "Jet"). A content analysis abstraction form was developed to collect information from the articles in the following areas: sources of information used, description of insulin/diabetes, incidence/prevalence statistics, risk factors, symptoms, prevention measures, and long-term complications. Forty-nine articles were identified in all magazines combined over the 7-year time period. Overall, current diabetes prevalence rates, risk factors, symptoms, preventive measures, and long-term complications were not discussed in great detail. The findings suggest that coverage of diabetes in women's magazine articles does not reflect the true public health significance of this disease. (Contains 3 tables.)