Mass media narratives of women's cardiovascular disease: a qualitative meta-synthesis

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability among women worldwide. Narratives circulated by the media regarding women's identities and health constitute one source of meanings by which conceptualisations about risk, risk reduction, and disease prevention are formed and framed. An interpretive and integrative meta-synthesis of qualitative research was done to examine the representations of women's cardiovascular disease in traditional and user-generated Canadian and US media narratives, and explore the implications of these for gendered identities and health promotion for women. After a literature search of electronic databases, 29 qualitative peer-reviewed journal articles published since 2000 met the eligibility criteria and were included for review. The findings revealed three overarching themes: (a) the construction of who is at risk for cardiovascular disease; (b) the portrayal of certain risk-reducing strategies and acute events; and (c) the delegation of responsibility for maintaining female cardiovascular health. These meta-synthesis findings contribute towards novel understandings about the culture of women's cardiovascular disease risk and the feminisation of healthism/individual responsibility, which may limit awareness among marginalised female demographics (those from lower socio-economic and minority racial backgrounds).