Palliative and terminal care at home as portrayed in Dutch newspapers in 2009 compared to 2000

Terminal care at home is receiving increased attention from the Dutch media, which is relevant for primary care providers.

To explore the portrayal of terminal care at home in newspapers in the Netherlands in 2000 and in 2009.

We performed a systematic analysis of documents retrieved from the LexisNexis Academic NL database. We compared data regarding the 'point of reference' (or 'frame') and the 'moral judgments' in articles appearing in the first six months of 2009 to the same period in 2000.

In the year 2000, the framing of articles in regional newspapers appeared to be predominantly consumer-oriented (66%) and in national newspapers predominantly contextual (63%). The moral judgment in the regional articles was predominantly positive (66%), in the national newspapers predominantly negative (58%). In 2009, articles in regional and national newspapers were categorized mainly as consumer-oriented (73% and 55%, respectively), and new themes appeared, i.e. self care and medical topics. For moral judgment, again regional articles were mainly positive (76%) and national articles were mainly negative (39%) and neutral (31%).

Regarding the theme 'terminal care at home' as published in Dutch newspapers in 2009 as compared to 2000, the diversity of the framing was more prominent and over all moral judgments were more positive, particularly in regional newspapers. Health care providers should realize that the portrayal of palliative and terminal care at home may differ depending on the type of newspaper--regional or national.