A content analysis of Japanese cancer documentaries across 25 years

Abstract

We analysed Japanese television documentaries to (1) assess how cancer and the difficulties of patients with cancer were portrayed in documentaries on major Japanese national broadcasting networks and (2) evaluate changes in quality of life in Japan’s history of medicine as depicted in these documentaries to identify any trends. We analysed television documentaries aired from 1965 to 2015 on two major national broadcasting networks in Japan. Sixteen programmes on 24 patients with cancer aged 23–85 years were broadcast. The most common difficulty depicted was patient’s disease and care (n = 17). After 2006, more survivors discussed ongoing problems during cancer treatment. Over time, the proportion of programmes dealing with survivorship increased.

Keywords

• television documentary
• content analysis
• cancer
• survivorship
• patient narrative