Does public awareness of secondary traumatic stress in military families provide a context for intervention? A review of reports in the Canadian popular news media

Abstract: The objectives of this research were to evaluate the frequency and quality of reports on secondary traumatic stress (STS) in widely available Canadian popular media sources. We focused on any news-media mention of the effect on the family of living with a military member who has PTSD. In order to accomplish these goals, a content analysis of popular news media articles and television transcripts was performed to evaluate both the quantity and quality of material dedicated to this subject in the media. The content analysis was conducted using three electronic databases that search Canadian popular media: Proquest, Factiva, and Prowler. Articles and transcripts considered academic literature were not used. While the articles that mention STS do accurately describe some of the aspects of this condition, no one article provides a comprehensive portrait of life with a military member suffering from PTSD. Furthermore, even when grouped together, the articles do not discuss all of the problems faced by families of PTSD sufferers.