ArticleBMJ open2022
Interventions to improve media coverage of medical research: a codesigned feasibility and acceptability study with Australian journalists.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevention Needs a Translator: Why Medical Journalism Matters.AJPM focus · 2026Article
- Acceptability of Hypertension Quality Indicators in Primary Care in South Africa: Exploratory Implementation Research.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Social Media Posts About Medical Tests With Potential for Overdiagnosis.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Words and numbers: a comparative study of medical and journalism students' descriptors of risk, numeracy and preferences for health risk communication.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Cancer overdiagnosis: a challenge in the era of screening.Journal of the National Cancer Center · 2022Article
- What Promotes Medical Overuse: Perspective on Evolutionary Game between Administration and Medical Institutions.Computational and mathematical methods in medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesAlthough the media can influence public perceptions and utilisation of healthcare, journalists generally receive no routine training in interpreting and reporting on medical research. Given growing evidence about the problems of medical overuse, the need for quality media reporting has become a greater priority. This study aimed to codesign and assess the feasibility of a multicomponent training intervention for journalists in Australia.
designA small pragmatic feasibility study using a pre- and postdesign.
setting90 min online workshop.
participantsEight journalists currently working in Australia, recruited through the study's journalist advisor and existing contacts of the researchers.
interventionThe training intervention covered a range of topics, including study designs, conflicts of interest, misleading medical statistics, population screening and overdiagnosis. The intervention also provided tools to help journalists with reporting, including a Tip Sheet and list of expert contacts in health and medicine. Preworkshop and postworkshop questionnaires were administered via Qualtrics. MEASURES: Acceptability and feasibility of the intervention, and journalists' knowledge of overdiagnosis and common issues with health stories. Quantitative results were analysed descriptively using SPSS. Qualitative data were thematically analysed.
resultsAll participants completed preworkshop and postworkshop questionnaires, and 6 completed the 6-week follow-up (75% retention). Feasibility findings suggest the intervention is acceptable and relevant to journalists, with participants indicating the workshop increased confidence with reporting on medical research. We observed increases in knowledge preworkshop to postworkshop for all knowledge measures on overdiagnosis and common issues with media coverage of medicine. Analysis of free-text responses identified several areas for improvement, such as including more examples to aid understanding of the counterintuitive topic of overdiagnosis and more time for discussion.
conclusionsPiloting suggested the multicomponent training intervention is acceptable to journalists and provided important feedback and insights to inform a future trial of the intervention's impact on media coverage of medicine.
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