We tested the association between correct knowledge about TB transmission and the following explanatory variables: age, gender, highest level of education attained, marital status, religion, type of residence (urban/rural), wealth index, national region of residence and exposure to mass media (frequency of reading newspaper/magazine, listening to radio, and watching television).
Participants were asked to complete a survey consisting of 10 different medical conditions, 5 of which were high media frequency conditions and 5 of which were low media frequency conditions.
It appears that even with individuals who are medically oriented, the impact of high levels of media frequency remain.
However, the impact of media frequency was reduced in the high information condition, as evidenced by a significant interaction between information condition and media frequency [F (1, 200) = 67.49, p<0.001] in participant ratings of seriousness.
If increased media frequency can in fact alter perceptions of the concept of disease, or what is publicly recognized as a serious disease, then this has implications for many aspects of health decision making.
Ferrite films have been widely used in computer memory chips, magnetic recording media, frequency filters, and many branches of telecommunication and electronic engineering.
Each of the 'low media' frequency diseases was chosen to be as closely matched to one of the 'high media' frequency diseases as possible on the following characteristics: disease fatality, symptoms and vector or mode of transmission, as described in the Centre for Disease Control database.
This study was designed to investigate the impact of the disease label and associated knowledge on judgments of severity, prevalence and disease-like status of both high media frequency and low media frequency diseases.
High and low media frequency diseases were confirmed using a LexisNexus search of general news media.
Estimates of severity also positively correlated with popular print media frequency in both student populations.
In addition, ratings of severity in both populations were significantly correlated with actual print media frequency.
