BACKGROUND An important source of knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes about illness is the mass media. Research has established the often negative and emotive language utilised by journalists to report on physical and mental long-term illnesses. The limited amount of research on rheumatological conditions has largely focused on the extent of, and/or accuracy of media coverage. This is the first published study to examine systematically the language used by the United Kingdom (UK) popular press to specifically describe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS A patient and public involvement (PPI) approach, involving academics and service users with RA, was used to conduct the research. LexisNexis online repository of print media was searched for articles within a defined five year time frame, which included RA in the headline and/or lead paragraph of 15 UK national non-specialist newspapers. Resultant articles were uploaded to NVivo, and a realist perspective aided a thematic analysis of the data set. RESULTS A search of LexisNexis produced 413 newspaper articles, of which 147 met the inclusion criteria. Three themes emerged: (1) language used to describe RA; (2) language used to refer to those who live with RA and; (3) language used to report on potential new treatments for RA. Negative and emotive terms such as 'attack', 'painful', 'crippling', and 'agony' were the most frequently used to describe the experience of RA. People diagnosed with RA were often portrayed as 'sufferers' or 'victims', though neutral language was also deployed. 'Hope' and 'breakthrough' were the most reported terms for potential new treatments for RA. Across the three themes, tabloid and middle market newspaper articles applied more sensationalised language with attention grabbing headlines and news stories. By contrast, such emotive terminology was less apparent in broadsheets. CONCLUSIONS The media is a source of information about RA for the general population, but the quality of newspaper journalism about the condition requires improvement. The findings may act as a stimulus for a national public awareness initiative and/or social marketing campaign. How the language currently constructed to describe RA in the press is received by people with RA would be an important area for future research.

中文翻译：

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2011-2016 年英国国家报纸对类风湿关节炎的描述：服务用户 - 主导对所用语言进行主题分析。

背景技术关于疾病的知识、信念和态度的重要来源是大众媒体。研究发现，记者在报道身体和精神长期疾病时经常使用消极和情绪化的语言。关于风湿病的有限研究主要集中在媒体报道的范围和/或准确性上。这是第一项发表的研究，系统地检查了英国 (UK) 大众媒体专门描述类风湿性关节炎 (RA) 所使用的语言。方法 采用患者和公众参与 (PPI) 方法进行研究，其中涉及 RA 的学术界和服务使用者。在 LexisNexis 印刷媒体在线存储库中搜索了规定五年时间范围内的文章，其中包括 15 份英国全国性非专业报纸的标题和/或引导段落中的 RA。由此产生的文章被上传到 NVivo，现实主义的视角有助于对数据集进行主题分析。结果 LexisNexis 的搜索产生了 413 篇报纸文章，其中 147 篇符合纳入标准。出现了三个主题：（1）用于描述 RA 的语言；(2) 用于指代 RA 患者的语言；(3) 用于报告 RA 潜在新疗法的语言。“攻击”、“痛苦”、“瘫痪”和“痛苦”等消极和情绪化的术语最常用于描述 RA 的经历。被诊断患有类风湿性关节炎的人经常被描述为“患者”或“受害者”，尽管也使用中性语言。“希望”和“突破”是报道最多的 RA 潜在新疗法的术语。在这三个主题中，小报和中间市场报纸文章使用了更加耸人听闻的语言，以及引人注目的头条新闻和新闻报道。相比之下，此类情感术语在大报中不太明显。结论 媒体是普通大众了解 RA 的信息来源，但有关该疾病的报纸新闻质量需要改进。研究结果可能会刺激全国公众意识倡议和/或社会营销活动。目前媒体上描述 RA 的语言如何被 RA 患者接受将是未来研究的一个重要领域。