| Title |
The Ancient-Turned-New Concept of “Spiritual Hygiene”: An Investigation of Media Coverage of Meditation from 1979 to 2014
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Journal of Religion and Health, May 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s10943-016-0262-3 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Sharon Lauricella |
| Abstract |
A spiritual-yet not religious-practice, meditation has been touted as beneficial to boosting the immune system, lowering blood pressure, alleviating migraines, and increasing gray matter in parts of the brain. While scientific research on meditation is beginning to quantify its benefits, there is increasing concern among the scientific community that news outlets glorify the potential benefits of meditation. This paper considers coverage of meditation in mainstream print media by analyzing 764 articles printed in English from worldwide media outlets from 1979 to 2014. Frame theory analysis is employed to better understand how meditation is presented in print media and how the perception of the practice is interpreted by readers. Results indicate that articles reflect the health and wellness challenges present in contemporary culture, together with a desire for personal relief from such issues. The paper suggests that the practice of meditation as "spiritual hygiene" is indicative of a sociocultural shift in which meditative techniques are becoming increasingly recognized, encouraged, and practiced. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 10 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | 2 | 20% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 10% |
| Russia | 1 | 10% |
| Germany | 1 | 10% |
| Unknown | 5 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 7 | 70% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 2 | 20% |
| Scientists | 1 | 10% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 48 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 48 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 7 | 15% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 4 | 8% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 4 | 8% |
| Researcher | 4 | 8% |
| Other | 9 | 19% |
| Unknown | 14 | 29% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 10 | 21% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 7 | 15% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 5 | 10% |
| Social Sciences | 3 | 6% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 2 | 4% |
| Other | 7 | 15% |
| Unknown | 14 | 29% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 18. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 January 2018.
All research outputs
#2,020,216
of 25,196,456 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Religion and Health
#107
of 1,339 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#35,153
of 346,020 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Religion and Health
#6
of 25 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,196,456 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 91st percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,339 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 9.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 346,020 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 25 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 80% of its contemporaries.