by: Tyler Martins, Heer Sarasiya

In a recent comprehensive study examining the portrayal of mental health issues within minority communities in popular Canadian newspapers, researchers have uncovered a surprisingly positive trend. Contrary to expectations of perpetuating misconceptions, the newspapers analyzed demonstrated a notable level of respect and attention towards mental health concerns among minority populations.

The research, conducted over a span of five years from 2018 to 2023, scrutinized mental health-related articles from seven prominent Canadian newspapers, including the Toronto Star, CBC, and Montreal Gazette, among others. The analysis focused on how these newspapers depicted mental health issues within various minority communities and assessed the tone and framing of the coverage.

Out of the 14 articles sampled, all addressed mental health concerns within minority communities in some capacity. Anxiety emerged as a predominant theme, with 50% of the articles discussing its impact on mental health. Additionally, 35% of the articles addressed the issue of depression, highlighting its significance in minority mental health discourse.

Surprisingly, only 14% of the articles conveyed a negative tone or framing, indicating that most of the coverage was positive and constructive. Furthermore, a significant 85% of the articles advocated for change and brought attention to the importance of addressing mental health issues within minority populations.

The research suggests that Canadian newspapers are actively engaging with the mental health challenges faced by minority communities, offering insightful coverage that aims to promote understanding and foster positive change. Rather than perpetuating stereotypes or misconceptions, the newspapers analyzed demonstrated a commitment to highlighting the significance of mental health issues within minority populations and advocating for their recognition and support.

This positive portrayal of mental health in minority communities underscores the importance of media in shaping public perceptions and fostering awareness. By amplifying diverse voices, challenging stereotypes, and promoting accurate representations, Canadian newspapers are playing a crucial role in creating a more understanding and supportive societal environment for individuals struggling with mental health issues.

Moving forward, it is imperative for media outlets to continue this trend of inclusive and constructive coverage, ensuring that mental health concerns within minority communities remain a focal point of public discourse. By doing so, they can contribute to breaking down barriers, reducing stigma, and ultimately improving the well-being of all Canadians.

Research Report

In recent years, mental health has become a huge discussion topic in public discourse, research, and media worldwide. This research aims to look at the way in which Canadian News outlets comment on mental health seeing if any misconceptions are perpetuated or reinforced by the media within Canada towards minority communities.

Literature Review

The intersection of mental health and cultural diversity presents unique challenges for minority populations, often exacerbated by the portrayal of mental health in Canadian media. Mahtani (2001) and Lee (2006) emphasize that media representations influence not only individual identity formation but also community dynamics, potentially leading to mental health issues among minority groups. Carmichael et al. (2019) assert that media often perpetuates stereotypes, particularly depicting minorities in violent or crime-related contexts, which can exacerbate mental health stigma and stereotypes.

Furthermore, the portrayal of mental illness in media lacks perspectives from the mentally ill themselves, often relying heavily on psychiatrists for expertise. Mental health nurses, who offer a holistic perspective, are marginalized in media representation. A qualitative study with mental health nurses revealed negative and misleading portrayals of mental illness in media, emphasizing medical perspectives while obscuring holistic nursing views (Liljeqvist et al, 2020). The study suggests a need for mental health nurses to play a more prominent role in media reporting to address the lack of relevant information and to conduct further research on media portrayals in social media and journalists’ perspectives (Liljeqvist et al, 2020).

Attribution Theory, pioneered by Heider and expanded upon by Kelley and Weiner, offers insights into how individuals attribute causes to mental health issues depicted in the media. It suggests that media framing influences whether the audience attributes mental health concerns to internal (individual qualities) or external (societal impacts) factors (Attribution Theory in Psychology, 2023). This theory is applied to examine public perceptions of mental health issues in Canadian news media.

Meanwhile, a theoretical model based on media priming theory and the reasoned action approach predicts the impact of media intake on social interaction intentions toward people with mental illnesses. This approach emphasizes the distinct roles of stigma beliefs and prejudiced attitudes in determining social preferences. An experimental study partially concurs with the model, highlighting the need to discriminate between bias and stigma (Riles, 2020). The study emphasizes the possible detrimental interpersonal effects of media usage on social attitudes, adding to theoretical knowledge and indicating consequences for public policy.

Additionally, Cultivation Theory, developed by Gerbner, explores the long-term effects of media exposure on perceptions of reality. In the context of mental health representation, this theory examines how continuous exposure to certain narratives in Canadian media shapes public attitudes, particularly towards minority groups. The Keal et al article demonstrates how media can cultivate ideas in society. In their article they talk about how the media coverage surrounding athletes’ mental health can disrupt the public perception of the athlete and the overall way mental health plays into sports (Keal et al., 2022).

Mainstream media significantly influences public perceptions and stigmatization of mental disorders, including autism. A scoping review mapping the portrayal of autism in mainstream media indicates stigmatization, particularly in newspapers and movies & TV, often with negative and stereotypical portrayals (Mittmann,2023). Literature and social media, however, offer more diverse and positive representations. Recommendations include involving autistic individuals in content creation processes and exploring newer media forms’ effects on portrayal and stigmatization.

In conclusion, these various studies shed light on the complex interplay between media representations, societal attitudes, and mental health perceptions. They highlight the importance of more nuanced and inclusive portrayals of mental health, particularly concerning minority communities. By amplifying diverse voices, challenging stereotypes, and promoting accurate representations, media outlets can contribute to fostering a more understanding and supportive societal environment for individuals struggling with mental health issues.

Methods

To find out how Canadian news outlets might perpetuate misconceptions regarding mental health and minority communities 7 popular Canadian newspapers were examined in terms of their mental health articles, (Toronto Star, CBC, WinnipegFreePress, Vancouver Sun, Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald, The Hamilton Spectator) The categories and keywords searched for in the newspapers were, 1) Mental health and terms related to it 2) Minority community mental health and wellbeing 3) Issues related mental health. A search on their websites between 2018 and 2023 and collection of articles that related were collected. Articles which were not chosen were those that did not look at mental health scenarios or issues, and articles that did not mention any minority group, additionally articles were ignored that had no relation to answering how Canadian media might perpetuate misconceptions regarding mental health in minority communities. In the sample articles were additionally selected if they represented mental health in any group of minorities, (not just visible) therefore articles relating to working women, the elderly, and the youth were selected in addition to those which comment on “visible minorities”.

Every sampled article went through the same coding process to find out information regarding the ways the media might portray mental health within minority communities. The coding categories were decided based on trying to receive the best data which conveyed how Canadian news media portrayed issues in the landscape of mental health, trying to answer how might these media outlets perpetuate misconception regarding minority population mental health. The articles were coded based on if they talked about minority populations, how they represented the issue (positive or negative) if it was coded positive that reveals that the news article talked about the issue in a enlightening manner, bringing eyes and ears to the issues and demanding change or attention. Negative coding of the news articles came from not offering any real answers or not bringing enough attention to the roots of the issues surrounding minority mental health.

Results

After sampling the population of texts found when searching for the keywords relating to mental health and minority populations the research revealed that of 14 articles between 2018 and 2023 all articles talked about mental health and some sort of minority community in some sort of way. While not all talked about anxiety 50% did and described how it played into the mental health being discussed. Only 35% of the articles expressed a concern for depression or had it as an issue in mental health. Of the 14 articles, 14% of them had something to say about violence and mental health. This revealed that anxiety seemed to be a priority in terms of Canadian newspaper media perception and conveying of mental health issues in minority communities. Again only 14% conveyed negative tone, framing and influence, 85% argued for change in some way and wanted to bring attention to the impacts of mental health on minority communities and populations.

Discussion

All Canadian news articles mentioned the mental health and the long-term ramifications if mental health of minority populations goes unchecked within Canada. This reveals that that there is a significant level of respect and attention brought to mental health in minority populations in Canada and these minority populations. In terms of tone and framing problems there was nearly a 50% split across the articles in terms of tone, and framing problems were mostly seen to be in a positive way. As mentioned previously the articles did not frame the problems in a negative way, almost all of them conveyed a positive reinforcement and strive towards change within the landscape of minority population mental health. This reveals volumes as this paper wanted to see how media might convey these issues, seeing if any of these minority groups were disrespected in their media coverage or if the mental health issues weren’t seen as an issue, the Canadian newspapers often explicitly stated that these mental health issues were bad and should be changed for the betterment of Canadians.

Limitations

One of the main limitations of this study is that when trying to comment on the state and media convey minority mental health it was challenging to find a higher population of texts (Canadian newspapers) that directly commented on the desired question. Also, when looking at the newspapers’ context, it would be more beneficial to have a wider range of newspapers that could give different context when coding them. The method of coding could have also been refined, in our study two distinct people were coding, the study and coding results could vary depending on the interpretations taken on by different individuals when reading the texts to be coded. The issue of mental health often brings up discourse that often has subjective opinion weaved within, in other words one person coding might feel like an article author was being dry when another may feel like he is just being concise. In future studies if more time was taken by a single person to code this specific study might have yielded results that were slightly different.

Implications, recommendations, and conclusion

In conclusion this study has shown how minority populations’ mental health is dealt with by Canadian newspapers. Often the newspapers showed that they were invested in specific stories, usually conveying that they were in support of the minority groups. The newspapers trying to facilitate change in any form reveals that they have a somewhat high regard for minority group issues, while these Canadian newspaper articles don’t offer many answers and veer from specific data relevant to this paper at times the overall takeaways are significant. By showing remorse and highlighting mental health issues, it is important to consider when looking at the results. Only 14% of the articles revealed negative tones in any way. This is important to consider when looking at theories like communication cultivation theory, which could be relevant when considering how media discourse shapes public opinion. This paper sought to look at how the newspaper discourse in Canadian media surrounding a specific topic, if certain discourse is negative under cultivation theory the public could be interpolated by the ideas spread consistently across mass media. In this case the newspapers did not show significant signs of perpetuating misconceptions toward minority populations in Canada. This study could be useful when considering how mental health is treated in Canadas media and how minority populations are treated and conveyed by the media.

References

Attribution Theory in Psychology: Definition & Examples. (2023, June 11). https://www.simplypsychology.org/attribution-theory.html

“Anxiety.” American Psychology Association, (2024). https://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety.

Carmichael, V., Adamson, G., Sitter, K. C., & Whitley, R. (2019). Media coverage of mental illness: a comparison of citizen journalism vs. professional journalism portrayals. Journal of Mental Health, 28(5), 520–526. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2019.1608934

Cultivation Theory – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2024, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/cultivation-theory

Douai, A., & Perry, B. (2017). A Different Lens? How Ethnic Minority Media Cover Crime. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 60, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2016-0013.r2

Galderisi, Silvana, et al. “Toward a New Definition of Mental Health.” World Psychiatry, vol. 14, no. 2, June 2015, pp. 231–33, https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20231.

Howard, Judith A., and Daniel G. Renfrow. (2014) “Intersectionality.” Handbook of the Social Psychology of Inequality, edited by Jane D. McLeod et al., Springer Netherlands, 2014, pp. 95–121, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9002-4_5.

Keal, J., McCabe, T., Wright, J., & Renshaw, P. (2022). Media portrayal of mental health at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Sports Psychiatry, 1(2), 41–46.

Lee, C. M. (2006). The influence of media portrayals of Chinese-Canadians on group members’ ethnic identity and self-esteem. https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/b3af0739-5e7a-4443-b5c0-ebe9e5bdfc7a/download/6a9a403f-9a59-42e3-b13f-5631b1605e52

Liljeqvist, M., Kling, S., Hallén, M., & Jormfeldt, H. (2020). Swedish Mental Health Nurses’ Experiences of Portrayals of Mental Illness in Public Media. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 41(4), 348–354. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2019.1658244

Mahtani, M. (2001). Representing minorities: Canadian media and minority identities. Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal, 33(3), 99–135. https://go-gale-com.proxy.library.brocku.ca/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=00083496&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA89970653&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs

Mittmann, G., Schrank, B., & Steiner-Hofbauer, V. (2023). Portrayal of autism in mainstream media – a scoping review about representation, stigmatisation and effects on consumers in non-fiction and fiction media. Current Psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04959-6

Riles, J. M. (2020). The Social Effect of Exposure to Mental Illness Media Portrayals: Influencing Interpersonal Interaction Intentions. Psychology of Popular Media, 9(2), 145–154. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000217

Wahl, O. F. (1995). Media madness: Public images of mental illness. Rutgers University Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QiH532OnL2EC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=mental+health+in+media+portrayal+of+minorities+in+Canada&ots=t9grzSVIGN&sig=JhEH1wWzwyq9BunCIbjdIfucTWs

Appendix 1

Code form articles with article ID:

• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/louis-riel-school-division-violence-bad-behaviour-1.6761764
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/thomson-inquest-day-2-1.7148912
• https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/torontos-catholic-school-board-considers-new-cellphone-policy/article_cd7fc838-c123-11ee-8733-6798673ba017.html
• https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/sci-tech/2023/10/24/states-sue-meta-for-harming-young-peoples-mental-health-collecting-data-on-children
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/yazidi-refugee-lacking-support-1.4882941
• https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/solitary-confinement-youth-cruel-inhuman-degrading-and-should-be-banned-in-bc-lawsuit
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/year-in-stigma-public-shaming-racial-minorities-1.5938137
• https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/attitudes-to-childrens-mental-health-have-changed-in-a-decade-editor-says
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/racial-minorities-covid-19-hard-hit-1.5943878
• https://vancouversun.com/news/daphne-bramham-governments-need-to-act-with-compassion-or-cities-will-sink-into-lawless-barbarism
• https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/elderly-montreal-couple-pleads-for-stay-of-deportation-back-to-india
• https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/bc-firefighters-battle-mental-health-labour-challenges-atop-deadly-wildfires/wcm/9b825336-61b5-471a-b362-922aeea24261
• https://calgaryherald.com/special-sections/encore-lifestyles/mental-health-challenges-can-increase-with-age
• https://www.thespec.com/business/working-women-report-worsening-mental-health-poll/article_106c7641-dd67-53f4-98ef-083ead9b7add.html

Appendix 2

Definitions:

Anxiety- A feeling of unease or worry, often accompanied by physical changes like faster heart rate. It’s different from fear, which is a response to a clear danger happening right now. Anxiety is more about feeling tense about things that might happen in the future. (American Psychology Association, 2024)

Mental Health – Being content with yourself aa well as being able to deal with life’s challenges. It’s about being able to work and contribute to your community in a positive way. (Galderisi et al., 2015) This indicates that anyone unable to do these can be associated with a form of mental illness.

Intersectionality – About how people’s experiences are shaped by the various categories they belong to, like gender and race, some of which may marginalize them while others privilege them. It shows that inequality is more complex than just one factor and involves both individual experiences and larger societal structures. It highlights how individuals can face both oppression and privilege at the same time. (Howard and Renfrow, 2014)

Appendix 3

Category		Description
Article details
	Article ID	An ID for each article will be given, provide that ID.
	Name of newspaper	Write the name of the newspaper in the article provided.
	Publication date
Variables
Representation of mental health.	0 = Yes, X = No for each option.
	Mention of mental health, in the context of minorities
Specific terms	Mark all the boxes that are mentioned
	Anxiety	A feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, about something. Anxiety can vary from mild to severe and can interfere with daily life.
	Depression	Depression is a mental health disorder characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and loss of interest or pleasure in activities. It can also involve changes in appetite or weight, sleep disturbances, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
	Violence	Violence is the use of physical force to hurt, damage, or injure oneself, others, or property. It can take many forms, including physical hostility, verbal abuse, emotional manipulation, and coercion. Unresolved disagreements, power disparities, or underlying psychological issues are often the root causes of violence, which can have major and long-term effects on people, communities, and society.
	Mental health (general)	An umbrella term that covers mental health issues that are not anxiety, depression or violence.
	Other	This is for when there is another term that is not the list above and does not come under the general mental health category.
Tone and Framing	0 = Yes, X = No for each option.
	Positive representation	Any mention of the media indicating or highlighting mental health topics concerning minorities in a supporting manner.
	Negative representation	Mention of mental health in the context of minorities done in negative connotations. Including mentions of violence and/or substance-related mentions. This indicates a bias in the way the news is being presented to and, consumed by the viewer.
	Neutral representation	Reporting of news in an unbiased way, where no positive or negative tone is used when mentioning mental health issues concerning minority communities.
Framing Problems	N = negative, P = positive for the options.
	Cultural Context	To indicate how cultural factors are framed in coverage of mental health in minorities. This will help examine if the newspaper acknowledges the influence of cultural beliefs and practices on mental health and if their cultural strengths are mentioned with the challenges.
	Intersectionality	How intersections of identity, such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status, are framed with mental health crises. This could indicate whether newspapers recognize the unique experiences and needs of individuals who belong to multiple marginalized groups within minority communities.
	Language and imagery	Examine the language and imagery used in news articles to frame the causes of mental health crises. This might include identifying whether certain terminology is used to describe mental health issues in minority communities and whether stereotypes or biases are present in the framing.
Audience Influence	Mark the appropriate box
	Positive influence	Having read the article, how does it come across to the reader? A positive influence is when the article has support for the minority community and provides news that is not prejudiced.
	Negative influence	The article is biased and puts the minority groups in a negative light, where the reader will negatively view them after reading it.
	Neutral influence	The article does not have a positive or negative influence on the audience.