“Books are Fun,Books are Great”

Television has been shown to influence young children's development of attitudes and skills. Evidence also suggests that children's television programs contain both positive and negative messages about various topics, including literacy. Yet little has been done to examine whether and how television messages about literacy affect young children's attitudes about literacy. Guided by three theoretical frameworks (Emergent Literacy perspective, Active Viewing model, and Social Cognitive Theory), this investigation involved two experiments in which 4- and 5-year-olds (N1 = 63; N2 = 52) in the US viewed clips that contained positive or negative messages about literacy. The General Literacy Attitudes Measure (GLAM) and the Specific Literacy Attitudes Measure (SLAM) were employed. Results from both experiments suggest that, although participants understood the varying messages, the messages had little significant effect on their attitudes. Limitations as well as directions for future research are discussed in light of these findings.     

Entertainment-Education in a Media-Saturated Environment: Examining the Impact of Single and Multiple Exposures to Breast Cancer Storylines on Two Popular Medical Dramas

In the United States, entertainment-education (E-E) initiatives in primetime television that provide public health information are at risk for diminished impact due to the media-saturated environment in which they must compete. One strategy to overcome this limitation is to use multiple primetime TV shows to reinforce similar health messages in multiple storylines. The current study explores such an approach by evaluating the impact of two separate breast cancer genetics storylines featured on two different TV programs as the result of outreach to writers and producers. These storylines aired within approximately 3 weeks of each other on the popular medical dramas, ER (NBC) and Grey's Anatomy (ABC), and included information about the BRCA1 breast cancer gene mutation and the risks it poses to women who test positive for it. The evaluation used data collected from a panel sample of 599 female survey respondents at three points in time. Results show that while the individual storylines had a modest impact on viewers' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to breast cancer, combined exposure seemed to be most effective at changing outcomes. Implications of our findings for future E-E interventions and evaluations are discussed.     

Heavy Sexual Content Versus Safer Sex Content: A Content Analysis of the Entertainment Education Drama Shuga

Extremely popular with Kenyan youth, the entertainment-education drama Shuga was designed with specific goals of promoting condom use, single versus multiple sexual partners, and destigmatization of HIV. Almost as soon as it aired, however, it generated controversy due to its extensive sexual themes and relatively explicit portrayal of sexual issues. To determine how safer sex, antistigma messages, and overall sexual content were integrated into Shuga, we conducted a content analysis. Results indicated that condom use and HIV destigmatization messages were frequently and clearly communicated. Negative consequences for risky sexual behavior were communicated over the course of the entire series. Messages about multiple concurrent partnerships were not evident. In addition, in terms of scenes per hour of programming, Shuga had 10.3 times the amount of sexual content overall, 8.2 times the amount of sexual talk, 17.8 times the amount of sexual behavior, and 9.4 times the amount of sexual intercourse as found in previous analysis of U.S. entertainment programming. Research is needed to determine how these factors may interact to influence adolescent viewers of entertainment education dramas.     

Content analysis of prime-time television coverage of physical activity, 1970-2001

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine how major nightly television networks reported on the health benefits of physical activity. METHODS: A retrospective content analysis of physical activity coverage on four major nightly television networks from 1970 to 2001 was performed. The Vanderbilt Television News Archives were searched for keywords "physical activity," "physical fitness," and "exercise." RESULTS: During the 31-year time period, 111 non-overlapping reports aired on all networks combined. The link between physical activity and health was reported in 53 (47.7%) articles, with general health (n =16, 14.4%) and heart disease (n =12, 12.6%) cited most frequently. Just three broadcasts related to the Surgeon's General Report on Physical Activity and Health were aired following its publication in 1996. CONCLUSIONS: Although the protective health benefits of physical activity are well established, physical activity received a modest amount of television coverage from 1970 through 2001.     

Children's rights: television programmes aired in Singapore

This article focuses on aspects of children's rights as portrayed in television. The results of a six-month research study show analyses of television content of Channel 5, which is the only free-to-air, 24-hour, English-language entertainment channel in Singapore. The results identify the role of television in assisting Singapore to meet its obligations in regard to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. News and advertisements aired on Channel 5 during primetime (between 7 pm and 10 pm) were recorded over a six-month period, and those featuring or related to children were analysed for the study. The samples were categorised and subcategorised based on the principles of the Convention (UNICEF, (2011a, June 2). Convention on the rights of the child. Rights Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child): Participation, Protection, Development, and Survival. A fifth category, not under United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child-Object, was devised by the researchers. The results of this study have shown that the representation of children on television in Singapore is, in part, a reflection of how Singaporean society views children. Analyses of the media content indicated that protection and development of children was Singapore's top priority. Despite the fact that children were considered to need adult protection there was no reference to the Convention.     

Health education in television entertainment--Medisch Centrum West: a Dutch drama serial.

World-wide a number of groups have sought ways to incorporate health messages into television entertainment like popular drama and soap serials. In the Netherlands, the Heart Foundation incorporated its cardiovascular health message in several episodes of a popular Dutch hospital serial called Medisch Centrum West. To obtain greater insight into the impact of this so-called 'entertainment-education (E & E) strategy', an evaluation study was carried out. Medisch Centrum West was both entertaining and informative at the same time. Although viewers were well aware that the programme included a health message, they did not find it intrusive to their enjoyment of the storyline. It was interesting to learn that fans were more tolerant and positive towards the E & E strategy than non-fans. Age, sex and education level explained only 5% of the variance.     

Health information sources of individuals with cancer and their family members

Researchers and practitioners who have sought to understand public reluctance to donating organs in spite of favorable attitudes toward organ donation have long thought that belief in myths about donation contribute to the problem. How these myths emerged and more important, why they have persisted in spite of national education campaigns is not clear. In the absence of direct personal experience with organ donation or transplantation, we believe that most people receive their information about donation through the media. In this study, we identify all entertainment television shows with organ donation storylines or subplots broadcast on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX from 2004-2005. Frame analysis reveals 2 competing metaframes: the moral corruption of the powerful and organ donors are good people. In addition to the metaframes, 4 secondary frames, and 6 tertiary frames are identified. Organ donation is framed in mostly negative terms, with a few notable exceptions. Recommendations for how to address negative framing of organ donation in the media are offered.     

Grammatical style of nutrition education messages

Nutrition education messages were written about eight different foods or food products in eight different styles. Styles were suggestions, instructions using 'should', rhetorical questions using 'how about' or 'why not', statements of fact, positive commands, positive commands followed by negative commands or vice versa. Subjects (n 160) rated messages for persuasiveness and also stated how often they already complied with each message. Scores were adjusted to remove the contributions related to sex, age group, social class, reported compliance and food about which the message had been written. The main factor influencing score for persuasiveness was the extent to which subjects claimed to be already complying with the messages. There were no significant effects of the method of construction of messages on score using one-way analysis of variance.     

“It’s natural and healthy,but I don’t want to see it”: Using Entertainment-Education to Improve Attitudes Toward Breastfeeding in Public

While it has been well established that breastfeeding provides the best nourishment for children, few women achieve the recommended breastfeeding duration. Negative media messages have been identified as one explanation for the lack of individual and public support for breastfeeding. This study explored the influence of media on the knowledge and attitudes of a nearly childless population to ascertain if and how entertainment media can positively impact perceptions of breastfeeding. Using cultivation and parasocial interaction, this research measured entertainment television’s effect on breastfeeding attitudes using randomized-group experiments involving 375 students. Overall, participants generally held positive attitudes but were uncomfortable seeing breastfeeding. Moreover, results indicate that viewing a prime-time television clip that depicted public breastfeeding not only significantly lessened the extent to which participants believed that breastfeeding was a private activity but also improved attitudes and support for breastfeeding in public. This study concludes that more pro-breastfeeding media messages in entertainment media could help create a climate conducive to breastfeeding success.     

Mass media family planning promotion in three Nigerian cities

Television promotion of family planning and clinic sites in three cities of Nigeria--Ilorin, Ibadan, and Enugu--played a significant role in 1985-88 in increasing the number of new acceptors at family planning clinics in each city. Family planning skits, prepared with advice and support from the local service providers, were included in existing popular entertainment shows. Questions asked in a recall survey among the exposed population in Enugu and Ibadan revealed that about half of those surveyed in both cities had seen the television episodes. Of those who had watched, 79 and 99 percent, respectively, recalled the family planning messages, and 69 and 88 percent, respectively, recalled specific clinic sites mentioned. Following the media promotion, the number of new clinic clients per quarter in Ilorin increased almost fivefold (in the original clinics evaluated); in Enugu, the number of new clients per month more than doubled; and in Ibadan, the number of new clients increased threefold. Use of entertainment through this "enter-educate approach" is a promising technique that can be replicated in different settings to encourage new clients to seek family planning services.     

Memorable Messages about Genes and Health: Implications for Direct-to-Consumer Marketing of Genetic Tests and Therapies

The era of genomic health care introduces new realities into decision-making about the prevention and treatment of disease. Despite this reality, relatively little is known about lay audience recollection of images and messages about genes and health, or their perceptions about the role of genetics research for health, and what diseases are inherited. Participants (N = 482) responded to three open-ended thought-listing tasks to consider these issues. Results revealed the significance of movies in framing memorable messages for participants, with print sources and television also represented. Both awareness and product commercials also comprised specific memories. Cloning was a frequently recalled message and often the first thought that came to participants' minds. While a broad range of conditions were associated with health risks inherited from one's family, cancer was most often identified. The messages recalled revealed a number of common features including their tendency to be emotion-laden. The theoretic and pragmatic implications of these results are considered.     

The Challenges of Social Marketing of Organ Donation: News and Entertainment Coverage of Donation and Transplantation

While great strides have been made in persuading the public to become potential organ donors, actual behavior has not yet caught up with the nearly universally favorable attitudes the public expresses toward donation. This paper explores the issue by situating the social marketing of organ donation against a broader backdrop of entertainment and news media coverage of organ donation. Organ donation storylines are featured on broadcast television in medical and legal dramas, soap operas, and other television serials approximately four times per month (not including most cable networks), and feature storylines that promote myths and fears of the organ donation process. National news and other non-fictionalized coverage of organ donation are even more common, with stories appearing over twenty times a month on average. These stories tend to be one-dimensional and highly sensationalized in their coverage. The marketing of organ donation for entertainment essentially creates a counter-campaign to organ donation, with greater resources and reach than social marketers have access to. Understanding the broader environmental context of organ donation messages highlights the issues faced by social marketing campaigns in persuading the public to become potential donors.     

Scare' Em or Disgust 'Em: The Effects of Graphic Health Promotion Messages

This study experimentally tested the effects of 2 types of content commonly found in anti-tobacco television messages—content focused on communicating a health threat about tobacco use (fear) and content containing disgust-related images—on how viewers processed these messages. In a 2 × 2 within-subjects experiment, participants watched anti-tobacco television ads that varied in the amount of fear and disgust content. The results of this study suggest that both fear and disgust content in anti-tobacco television ads have significant effects on resources allocated to encoding the messages and on recognition memory. Heart-rate data indicated that putting fear- or disgust-related content into anti-tobacco ads led to more resources allocated to encoding compared to messages without either feature. However, participants appeared to allocate fewer resources to encoding during exposure to messages featuring both fear and disgust content. Recognition was most accurate for messages that had either fear or disgust content but was significantly impaired when these 2 message attributes occurred together. The results are discussed in the context of motivated processing and recommendations about message construction are offered to campaign designers.     

Television Viewing and Unhealthy Diet: Implications for Children and Media Interventions

The concern over increasing rates of obesity and associated health issues has led to calls for solutions to the potentially unhealthy influence of television and food advertising on children's diets. Research demonstrates that children's food preferences are acquired through learning processes, and that these preferences have long-lasting effects on diet. We examined food preferences and eating behaviors among college students, and assessed the relative influence of 2 potential contributors: parental communication and television experience. In line with previous studies with children, prior television experience continued to predict unhealthy food preferences and diet in early adulthood, and perceived taste had the most direct relationship to both healthy and unhealthy diets. In addition, both television experience and parenting factors independently influenced preferences and diet. These findings provide insights into the potential effectiveness of alternative media interventions to counteract the unhealthy influence of television on diet, including a) nutrition education; b) parental communication and media literacy education to teach children to defend against unwanted influence; and c) reduced exposure to unhealthy messages.     

The challenges of social marketing of organ donation: news and entertainment coverage of donation and transplantation

While great strides have been made in persuading the public to become potential organ donors, actual behavior has not yet caught up with the nearly universally favorable attitudes the public expresses toward donation. This paper explores the issue by situating the social marketing of organ donation against a broader backdrop of entertainment and news media coverage of organ donation. Organ donation storylines are featured on broadcast television in medical and legal dramas, soap operas, and other television serials approximately four times per month (not including most cable networks), and feature storylines that promote myths and fears of the organ donation process. National news and other non-fictionalized coverage of organ donation are even more common, with stories appearing over twenty times a month on average. These stories tend to be one-dimensional and highly sensationalized in their coverage. The marketing of organ donation for entertainment essentially creates a counter-campaign to organ donation, with greater resources and reach than social marketers have access to. Understanding the broader environmental context of organ donation messages highlights the issues faced by social marketing campaigns in persuading the public to become potential donors.     

Improving vaccination coverage in urban areas through a health communication campaign: the 1990 Philippine experience.

From March to September 1990 the Philippine Department of Health, with the assistance of the HEALTHCOM Project, carried out a national mass-media communication campaign to support routine vaccination services. The essential elements of the campaign strategy were as follows: focusing on measles as a way to get mothers to bring their children to the health centre; emphasizing logistic knowledge in the mass-media messages, in particular popularizing a single day of the week as "vaccination day" and giving clear information about the age for measles vaccination; and focusing on urban areas, which had lower vaccination rates than rural areas. Evaluation of the effects of the campaign indicates an increase in vaccination coverage and a substantial increase in the timeliness of vaccination that can be attributed to improvement in carers'' knowledge about vaccination. Furthermore, most of the observed increase in knowledge was related to exposure to the mass-media campaign. There was no evidence of any programmatic change that could account for the increase in vaccination or evidence that increased health education efforts at health centres could account for the change in knowledge. These results indicate that when countries meet certain conditions--a high level of access to the media, sufficient expertise and funds available to develop and produce high-quality radio and television advertisements, and a routine system that is able to serve the increased demand--a mass communication campaign can significantly improve vaccination coverage.     

Health Information Sources of Individuals With Cancer and Their Family Members

Researchers and practitioners who have sought to understand public reluctance to donating organs in spite of favorable attitudes toward organ donation have long thought that belief in myths about donation contribute to the problem. How these myths emerged and more important, why they have persisted in spite of national education campaigns is not clear. In the absence of direct personal experience with organ donation or transplantation, we believe that most people receive their information about donation through the media. In this study, we identify all entertainment television shows with organ donation storylines or subplots broadcast on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX from 2004–2005. Frame analysis reveals 2 competing metaframes: the moral corruption of the powerful and organ donors are good people. In addition to the metaframes, 4 secondary frames, and 6 tertiary frames are identified. Organ donation is framed in mostly negative terms, with a few notable exceptions. Recommendations for how to address negative framing of organ donation in the media are offered.