The narratives of fertility clinic´s websites in Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.mar.19Keywords:
Framing theory, Persuasive communication, Content analysis, Social egg freezing, Fertility clinic´s website, Clinics, Oocyte cryopreservation, Freedom of women, Health information, Reproductive autonomy, Maternity, Rhetoric of choice, Women´s liberation,Abstract
One of the important developments in assisted reproductive technology is the technique of oocyte preservation, which enables women to preserve their eggs when there is a threat of becoming infertile in the future. In spite of the still experimental status of this procedure, fertility clinics widely recommend it to healthy women who wish to postpone childbearing for social reasons. Since in fertility clinic´s websites appear extensive recommendations and promotion about this technology, it seems important to analyze their online persuasive communication. Our analysis applies a mixed methodology of content and discourse analysis from a framing theory perspective. It provides an in-depth analysis of the content of fertility clinics´ websites in Spain, describing their communication/information strategies regarding fertility preservation for social reasons. The present article confirms the inconsistency that exists in terms of the clarity of the information given by these websites, since the information is framed intending to attract more women to the egg freezing services.
Downloads
References
Argyle, Catrin E.; Harper, Joyce C.; Davies, Melanie C. (2016). "Oocyte cryopreservation: where are we now?". Human reproduction update, v. 22, n. 4, pp. 440-449. https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmw007
Bailey, Martha J. (2006). "More power to the pill: The impact of contraceptive freedom on women´s life cycle labor supply". The quarterly journal of economics, v. 121, n. 1, pp. 289-320. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/121.1.289
Baldwin, Kylie (2016). Ice, ice, baby? A sociological exploration of social egg freezing. PhD Thesis. De Montfort University. Leicester. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/13109
Blythe, Jim (2009). Key concepts in marketing. Sage. ISBN: 978 1 847874993
Bartlett, Frederic C. (1932). Remembering: An experimental and social study. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Cattapan, Alana; Hammond, Kathleen; Haw, Jennie; Tarasoff, Lesley A. (2014). "Breaking the ice: young feminist scholars of reproductive politics reflect on egg freezing". International journal of feminist approaches to bioethics, v. 7, n. 2, pp. 236-247. https://doi.org/10.3138/ijfab.7.2.0236
D´Angelo, Paul (2002). "News framing as a multiparadigmatic research program: A response to Entman". Journal of communication, v. 52, n. 4, pp. 870-888. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2002.tb02578.x
Donnelly, Laura (2016). "Number of women freezing their eggs triples in just five years". The telegraph, March 23. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/23/number-of-women-
freezing-their-eggs-triples-in-just-five-years
Entman, Robert M. (1993). "Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm". Journal of communication, v. 43, n. 4, pp. 51-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x
Eurostat (2018). Mean age of women at childbirth and at birth of first child. Eurostat. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tps00017&plugin=1
Eysenbach, Gunther; Powell, John; Kuss, Oliver; Sa, Eun-Ryoung (2002). "Empirical studies assessing the quality of health information for consumers on the world wide web: A systematic review". Jama, v. 287, n. 20, pp. 2691-2700. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.287.20.2691
Gamson, William A. (1989). "News as framing: Comments on Graber". American behavioral scientist, v. 33, n. 2, pp. 157-161. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764289033002006
Gill, Rosalind C. (2007). "Critical respect: The difficulties and dilemmas of agency and "˜choice´ for feminism: A reply to Duits and Van Zoonen". European journal of women´s studies, v. 14, n. 1, pp. 69-80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506807072318
Goffman, Erving (2009). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Simon and Schuster. ISBN: 978 1 439188330
Goldin, Claudia (2006). "The quiet revolution that transformed women´s employment, education, and family". American economic review, v. 96, n. 2, pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282806777212350
Goldman, Eric; Tushnet, Rebecca (2014). "Featuring people in ads". In: Goldman, Eric; Tushnet, Rebecca (eds). Advertising & marketing law: Cases and materials. Santa Clara Univ. Legal Studies Research, paper n. 17-14. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2479635
Greenfield, Kent (2009). "Corporate law and the rhetoric of choice". Law & economics: Toward social justice, v. 24, pp. 61-89. https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/lsfp/239
Harwood, Karey (2009). "Egg freezing: A breakthrough for reproductive autonomy?". Bioethics, v. 23, n. 1, pp. 39-46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2008.00680.x
Hausman, Bernice L. (2008). "Women´s liberation and the rhetoric of "˜choice´ in infant feeding debates". International breastfeeding journal, v. 3, n. 1, pp. 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4358-3-10
Hayden, Sara; O´Brien-Hallstein, Lynn (eds.) (2010). Contemplating maternity in an era of choice: Explorations into discourses of reproduction. Lexington Books. ISBN: 978 0 739138908
Holsti, Ole R. (1969). Content analysis for the social sciences and humanities. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 978 0 394349268
Inhorn, Marcia C. (2013). "Women, consider freezing your eggs". CNN.com, April 9.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (España) (2017). "Número de nacimientos en España 2017, por edad de la madre". Statista. https://es.statista.com/estadisticas/474282/numero-de-nacimientos-en-espana-por-edad-de-la-madre
Jain, Tarun; Barbieri, Robert L. (2005). "Website quality assessment: Mistaking apples for oranges". Fertility and sterility, v. 83, n. 3, pp. 545-547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2004.09.030
Kline, Kimberly N. (2006). "A decade of research on health content in the media: the focus on health challenges and sociocultural context and attendant informational and ideological problems". Journal of health communication, v. 11, n. 1, pp. 43-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730500461067
Koert, Emily; Daniluk, Judith C. (2017). "When time runs out: reconciling permanent childlessness after delayed childbearing". Journal of reproductive and infant psychology, v. 35, n. 4, pp. 342-352. https://doi.org/10.1080/02646838.2017.1320363
Kotler, Philip (2000). Marketing management: The millennium edition. Prentice-Hall. ISBN: 0 536 63099 2 https://www.perspectiva.md/ro/files/biblioteca/Kotler-Marketing%20Management%20Millenium%20Edition.pdf
Kotler, Philip; Keller, Kevin-Lane (2006). Marketing management. 14th ed. New Jersey: Pearson. ISBN: 978 0 132102926
McCarver, Virginia (2011). "The rhetoric of choice and 21st-century feminism: Online conversations about work, family, and Sarah Palin". Women´s studies in communication, v. 34, n. 1, pp. 20-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2011.566532
McDonald, Paula K.; Bradley, Lisa M.; Guthrie, Diane (2006). "Challenging the rhetoric of choice in maternal labour"force participation: Preferred versus contracted work hours". Gender, work & organization, v. 13, n. 5, pp. 470-491. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2006.00318.x
Meyer, Harriet (2015). "Women "˜are being given false hope´ over freezing eggs". The guardian, October 24. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/24/women-false-hope-freezing-eggs
Miall, Charlene E. (1985). "Perceptions of informal sanctioning and the stigma of involuntary childlessness". Deviant behavior, v. 6, n. 4, pp. 383-403. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.1985.9967686
Mittal, Banwari (1994). "Public assessment of TV advertising: Faint praise and harsh criticism". Journal of advertising research, v. 34, n. 1, pp. 35-54.
Moyer, Cheryl A.; Vishnu, Leilanya O.; Sonnad, Seema S. (2001). "Providing health information to women: The role of magazines". International journal of technology assessment in health care, v. 17, n. 1, pp. 137-145. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266462301104125
Murray, Elizabeth; Lo, Bernard; Pollack, Lance; Donelan, Karen; Catania, Joe; Lee, Ken; Zapert, Kinga; Turne, Rachel (2003). "The impact of health information on the internet on health care and the physician-patient relationship: National US survey among 1.050 US physicians". Journal of medical internet research, v. 5, n. 3. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.5.3.e17
Newhouse, Nikki; Lupiáñez-Villanueva, Francisco; Codagnone, Cristiano; Atherton, Helen (2015). "Patient use of email for health care communication purposes across 14 European countries: An analysis of users according to demographic and health-related factors". Journal of medical internet research, v. 17, n. 3, e58. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.3700
Office for National Statistics (UK) (2017). "Average age of mothers at childbirth in the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2017". Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/294590/mother-average-age-of-at-childbirth-england-and-wales
Potter, Jonathan; Wetherell, Margaret (1987). Discourse and social psychology: Beyond attitudes and behaviour. Sage. ISBN: 978 0 803980563
Press Association (2016). "Number of British women freezing their eggs soars". The guardian, March 23. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/23/number-british-women-freezing-their-eggs-soars-ivf-hfea
Reese, Stephen D.; Grandy Jr., Oscar H.; Grant, August E. (eds.). (2001). Framing public life: Perspectives on media and our understanding of the social world. Routledge. ISBN: 978 1 410605689
Richards, Sarah-Elizabeth (2013). "Why I froze my eggs (and you should, too)". The Wall Street journal, May 3. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323628004578458882165244260
Rienzi, Laura; Martinez, F.; Ubaldi, Filippo-Maria; Minasi, Maria-Giulia; Iacobelli, Marcello; Tesarik, Jan; Greco, Ermanno (2004). "Polscope analysis of meiotic spindle changes in living metaphase II human oocytes during the freezing and thawing procedures". Human reproduction, v. 19, n. 3, pp. 655-659. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deh101
SEF (2016). Registro Nacional de Actividad 2016- Registro SEF. Sociedad Española de Fertilidad. https://www.registrosef.com/index.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f#Anteriores
Shaw, Rachel L.; Giles, David C. (2009). "Motherhood on ice? A media framing analysis of older mothers in the UK news". Psychology and health, v. 24, n. 2, pp. 221-236. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870440701601625
Smith, Frank A.; Trivax, Geoffrey; Zuehlke, David A.; Lowinger, Paul; Nghiem, Thieu L. (1972). "Health information during a week of television". New England journal of medicine, v. 286, n. 10, pp. 516-520. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM197203092861005
Smith, Gerald E.; Wortzel, Lawrence H. (1997). "Prior knowledge and the effect of suggested frames of reference in advertising". Psychology & marketing, v. 14, n. 2, pp. 121-143. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6793(199703)14:2<121::AID-MAR2>3.0.CO;2-F
Statista (2018). "Global fertility rate from 2006 to 2016". Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/805064/fertility-rate-worldwide
Stoop, Dominic; Maes, Elise; Polyzos, Nikolaos P.; Verheyen, Greta; Tournaye, Herman; Nekkebroeck, Julie (2015). "Does oocyte banking for anticipated gamete exhaustion influence future relational and reproductive choices? A follow-up of bankers and non-bankers". Human reproduction, v. 30, n. 2, pp. 338-344. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deu317
Teghtsoonian, Katherine (1996). "Promises, promises: "˜Choices for women´ in Canadian and American child care policy debates". Feminist studies, v. 22, n. 1, pp. 119.
Tuchman, Gaye C. (1978). Making news: A study in the construction of reality. New York: Free Press. ISBN: 978 0 029329603
Urist, Jacoba (2013). "There´s more to life than freezing your eggs". Atlantic, May 4. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/05/theres-more-to-life-than-freezing-your-eggs/275812
Vallejo, Victoria; Lee, Joseph A.; Schuman, Lisa; Witkin, Georgia; Cervantes, Enrique; Sandler, Benjamin; Copperman, Alan B. (2013). "Social and psychological assessment of women undergoing elective oocyte cryopreservation: a 7-year analysis". Open journal of obstetrics and gynecology, v. 3, n. 1, pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojog.2013.31001
Van-Dijk, Teun A. (2013). News as discourse. Routledge. ISBN: 978 0 805808285
Von-Wolff, Michael; Germeyer, Ariane; Nawroth, Frank (2015). "Fertility preservation for non-medical reasons: Controversial, but increasingly common". Deutsches í¤rzteblatt international, v. 112, n. 3, pp. 27-32. https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.2015.0027
Weber, Robert P. (1990). Basic content analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Quantitative applications in the social sciences, n. 49. ISBN: 978 0 803938632
Wilkinson, Jack; Vail, Andy; Roberts, Stephen A. (2017). "Direct-to-consumer advertising of success rates for medically assisted reproduction: A review of national clinic websites". BMJ open, v. 7, n. 1, e012218. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012218
Wolf, Mauro (1988). "Communication research and textual analysis: Prospects and problems of theoretical convergence". European journal of communication, v. 3, n. 2, pp. 135-149. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323188003002002
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Dissemination conditions of the articles once they are published
Authors can freely disseminate their articles on websites, social networks and repositories
However, the following conditions must be respected:
- Only the editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with this copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://www.profesionaldelainformacion.com
- Only the final editorial version should be made public. Please do not publish preprints, postprints or proofs.
- Along with that copy, a specific mention of the publication in which the text has appeared must be included, also adding a clickable link to the URL: http://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com
Profesional de la información journal offers the articles in open access with a Creative Commons BY license.
