"Ouch: A Content Analysis of the Racial Gap in Childrens Picture Books Related to Health and Illness

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"Ouch! A Content Analysis of the Racial Gap in
Childrens Picture Books Related to Health and
Illness
Grace Ann Gordon
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Thesis
Given the existing research on childrens
literature, the media, and how children interpret
messages, the goal of this study is to assess the
racial gap in childrens picture books focusing
on health and illness. Through a content
analysis, health related childrens picture books
will be analyzed for racial and ethnic
representation.
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Lit Review

• Harris (1990) reading books is beneficial
• Roethler (1998)children absorb images, have power
  to influence the adult they will become
• Collier (2000)books must be representative of
  demographics
• Purves and Beachs (1972)
• Bishop (1990)
• Turner (2006)

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Media Theory

• Stuart Hall (1974) encoding and decoding
• Encoder- Decoder Model
• Croteau and Hoynes (2003)

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Methods

• Content Analysis
• 60 Childrens picture books pertaining
• to health and illness issues were coded.
• Books were obtained from three locations Barnes
• and Noble, Borders, and the Wilmette Public
  Library
• Coding sheets were used to identify the following
  variables
• -skin color of main character
• -skin color of other characters in book
• -skin color of adults
• -skin color of health care professional
• -health issue being portrayed

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Methods

• Childrens picture books were sorted into eight
  categories
• Human Body
• Hospital Experiences
• Nutrition
• Disability
• Diabetes
• Asthma
• Sickle Cell
• Other diseases

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Findings
Sickle Cell
Table 1 Race of Child on Cover of Book
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Sickle cell
Table 2 Race of Children in Book
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Sickle cell
Table 3 Race of Health Care Professional
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Discussion

• Unequal representation of minority children
• Significant findings for race of health care
  professional
• Hispanic population of health care professional
  missing
• Children may decode images in negative ways
• Sickle cell healthcare professionals only 11,
• Minority parents face problem of finding books
• that are fairly representative.

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Questions?