Introduction/Background Children and young people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) can be concerned about the life-changing implications of their diagnosis. Previous literature reviews have identified that media representations of living with chronic disease can influence an individual’s perception of their own situation. Media content may therefore be a potential tool in helping a young person come to terms with their diagnosis. To our knowledge, however, there is no published literature specifically examining the quantity and quality of broadcast media representations of IBD.

Aim To identify UK television programmes referencing IBD, using BoB (an archive of over 2 million recordings) and to review portrayal of IBD, including accuracy of description, and to characterise common themes.

Subjects and Methods The terms ‘Crohns’, ‘Colitis’, ‘Inflammatory Bowel Disease’, ‘Ileostomy’ and ‘Stoma’ were selected, and BoB was searched for TV coverage between January 1st 2019 to December 31st 2020, inclusive.

Each programme was scored from 1 (low) to 10 (high) for (i) relevance to the project, and (ii) accuracy. Those scoring 6 or more for relevance were re-evaluated by a second person, blinded to the first reviewer’s exact scores. Emerging themes were identified. Qualitative analysis of the clips was conducted during a subsequent viewing.

Results Quantitative analysis: Table 1 shows the number of programmes identified during the initial search. Emerging themes are presented in Table 2.

Qualitative analysis: Explanations of IBD: often brief, but mostly accurate. However, programmes often frame living with IBD in extreme terms, either positively and/or negatively.

Positively: benefits of talking openly about living with a chronic condition; strength and resilience of featured participants; focussing on a goal (e.g. in sport, music or dance) can be beneficial to the general wellbeing of individuals with IBD.

Negatively: feelings of fear and helplessness, especially before and around diagnosis; continued uncertainty and daily unpredictability of living with IBD; living with IBD framed as an ongoing ‘battle’.

Summary and Conclusions IBD is underrepresented on television compared to other chronic conditions. Notwithstanding different search terms may lead to the same programme, there were fewer than 396 IBD-related clips identified in a two-year period. This is significantly lower than other conditions such as diabetes (3,138), asthma (2,236) and epilepsy (959).

Only 58 of the IBD-related clips were assessed as relevant for this project.

Depictions of IBD mainly featured in news, factual medical or documentary programmes with few fictional portrayals in drama or comedy.

Despite focus on the fear and uncertainty of living with IBD, there were also positive messages concerning the value of open communication with family and friends, and having goals to focus on.

Framing living with IBD using more extreme language may be due to television’s desire for compelling narratives, rather than an accurate reflection of people’s lived experience. However, children and young people with IBD may still benefit from seeing well-known role models discussing their condition and achieving their ambitions despite the challenges.

Further research into use of and benefit of TV and social media in support and education should be considered.