Objectives: The aim of the study was to analyse the contents of the information resources concerning rheumatology on websites of selected opinion-forming dailies and weeklies.
Material and methods: The material used to analyse contents covered information resources of websites of 6 opinion-forming press titles selected on the basis of The best opinion-forming media of 2012 ranking prepared by the Institute for Media Monitoring. The observation units were selected according to their order in the ranking. In the course of quantitative analysis, the following words were used as units of analysis for rheumatologic contents – rheumatism, rheumatic diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatology, and institute of rheumatology. The complete contents of information resources determined on the basis of quantitative analysis being a unit of analysis/context served, in the course of qualitative analysis, to identify resources which met a specific criterion according to the subjective evaluation of the contents by the authors of analysis. A research procedure identical to the one applied to rheumatology-related subjects was also applied to allergology-related subjects, the only difference being that quantitative analysis did not involve creating a categorization key and units of analysis used in quantitative analysis were allergy, allergy’s, and allergology.
Results: A total of 161 resources were identified for rheumatology-related subjects against 234 allergology-related ones. The identified resources came from the period from 1999 (oldest) to 2013 (newest). Among weeklies, most rheumatology-related resources as well as allergology-related resources were published by Wprost (1.4 resources/year and 2.3 resources/year, respectively). Among dailies, most rheumatology-related resources were published by Puls Biznesu while largest allergology-related resources by Gazeta Wyborcza, 5.3 resources/year and 5.4 resources/year, respectively. The qualitative analysis of rheumatology-related resources revealed these resources primarily had a character of scientific reports (n = 29; 18%) and educational campaigns (n = 44; 27%).
Conclusions: Viewed against allergology and basing on websites of dailies and weeklies studied, rheumatology seems to be a subject given less attention in opinion-forming media. Rheumatology-related resources are characterised primarily by positive message.