The role of media in creating the health care units’ image in Poland

Abstract

Introduc tion. The media have an enormous set of various tools and techniques, which allow the creation of a social reality. Nowadays, there are some stormy discussions on unfavourable situation in health care. The aim of this study was to determine the role of the media in creating perceptions of the image of health care centres in Poland.

Material and methods. Students and graduates of the biggest Polish universities were the target group for the following study. The surveyed group consisted of 1160 people (75% women and 25% men). 38% of the surveyed live in a city of more than 500 thousand inhabitants and 16% in village. An anonymous questionnaire was used to achieve the aim of this study. The questionnaire consisted of 32 questions posted on the website.

Results. 16.44% of respondents considered the media a reliable source of information about health care. There was no correlation between the assessment of the credibility of the media and the place of residence of respondents. According to 71% of respondents, the way in which the media present information about health care has an impact on their attitude towards the health system. The feature that determines the assessment of the impact of the media on attitudes towards health care system is sex.