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Using Television for Health Education
The Kaiser Family Foundation, in collaboration with the writers and producers of Grey's Anatomy, conducted a study of how information about health could affect the accuracy of knowledge of the show's viewers. They decided to pick a topic that had some relevance but was still was obscure enough to offer the possibility of measuring a change in the level of knowledge: HIV-positive women giving birth.
Throughout an episode of Grey's Anatomy, two characters repeatedly emphasized the health fact that with proper medical treatment, HIV-positive pregnant women have a 98% chance of giving birth to a healthy baby not infected with HIV. Researchers measured both level of knowledge and attitude of regular viewers of the show with these questions:
To see whether the education level and attitudes were affected by the show, the study used three different sample waves. Each wave used a separate sample of 500 regular viewers of Grey's Anatomy. The first wave of participants was given a survey before the episode aired in order to establish a baseline of viewer's knowledge about mother-to-child HIV transmission. The second wave of participants was given a survey directly after the episode aired in order to measure the immediate response from viewers. The third wave was given a survey six weeks after the episode aired in order to analyze how well viewers retained the new health information.
Here were the findings:
This is exciting to me as a sex therapist and sex educator because the results are clear. Putting accurate health information in popular TV shows does affect viewers' level of knowledge and their attitudes - and it reaches thousands, if not millions (depending on the show) of people in just one hour! According to the Nielsen ratings, this Grey's Anatomy episode had over 17.5 million viewers. Doing the math, that means that more than 8 million people learned correct information in an hour. And, younger viewers with less than $50,000 yearly income were more likely to have learned something from the show. It becomes obvious then that tailoring shows to specific audiences could be a powerful tool for those interested in health education.
But, what's really important then is that the information presented be accurate. I recall a Mad About You episode in which Paul Buchman took a Viagra pill. He walked around Manhattan for a day with an unwanted erection. It was frustrating to watch this irresponsible presentation of the effect of that medication. Many men and women finished up that episode thinking that Viagra caused an erection when a man took it - and that was that. There was no indication that when Viagra was used, sexual stimulation (either physical or mental) was necessary in order for the erection to occur. Even today I speak with people who think that by taking a Viagra pill they will have a perpetual erection no matter the circumstance or level of sexual stimulation.
So, now we have the official research and I've had my personal opinions based on clients in my therapy practice since that 1999 episode of Mad About You. I am eager to see if Hollywood can do some good for public health by harnessing this powerful health education tool to promote accurate knowledge - particularly about sex matters.
Related Topics:
Throughout an episode of Grey's Anatomy, two characters repeatedly emphasized the health fact that with proper medical treatment, HIV-positive pregnant women have a 98% chance of giving birth to a healthy baby not infected with HIV. Researchers measured both level of knowledge and attitude of regular viewers of the show with these questions:
- As far as you know, if a woman who is HIV positive becomes pregnant and receives the proper treatment, what is the chance that she will give birth to a healthy baby - that is, a baby who is NOT infected with HIV?
- Do you agree or disagree: it is irresponsible for a woman who knows she is HIV positive to have a baby?
To see whether the education level and attitudes were affected by the show, the study used three different sample waves. Each wave used a separate sample of 500 regular viewers of Grey's Anatomy. The first wave of participants was given a survey before the episode aired in order to establish a baseline of viewer's knowledge about mother-to-child HIV transmission. The second wave of participants was given a survey directly after the episode aired in order to measure the immediate response from viewers. The third wave was given a survey six weeks after the episode aired in order to analyze how well viewers retained the new health information.
Here were the findings:
- The viewers who had accurate knowledge about the HIV fact quadrupled from 15% before the show aired to 61% directly after.
- The viewers who retained the HIV health fact six weeks later dropped to 45% (which is still much more than 15%).
- The viewers who agreed that it was irresponsible for a woman who knows she is HIV positive to have a baby decreased by almost half - from 61% before the show aired to 31% directly after.
- After six weeks, the proportion of views who had the attitude that it was irresponsible for an HIV-positive woman to have a child increased to 47%, but it did not return to the original 61% before the show aired.
- Regular viewers aged 18 to 39 and with an annual income below $50,000 were more likely to say that they had ever learned something new about health from the show.
This is exciting to me as a sex therapist and sex educator because the results are clear. Putting accurate health information in popular TV shows does affect viewers' level of knowledge and their attitudes - and it reaches thousands, if not millions (depending on the show) of people in just one hour! According to the Nielsen ratings, this Grey's Anatomy episode had over 17.5 million viewers. Doing the math, that means that more than 8 million people learned correct information in an hour. And, younger viewers with less than $50,000 yearly income were more likely to have learned something from the show. It becomes obvious then that tailoring shows to specific audiences could be a powerful tool for those interested in health education.
But, what's really important then is that the information presented be accurate. I recall a Mad About You episode in which Paul Buchman took a Viagra pill. He walked around Manhattan for a day with an unwanted erection. It was frustrating to watch this irresponsible presentation of the effect of that medication. Many men and women finished up that episode thinking that Viagra caused an erection when a man took it - and that was that. There was no indication that when Viagra was used, sexual stimulation (either physical or mental) was necessary in order for the erection to occur. Even today I speak with people who think that by taking a Viagra pill they will have a perpetual erection no matter the circumstance or level of sexual stimulation.
So, now we have the official research and I've had my personal opinions based on clients in my therapy practice since that 1999 episode of Mad About You. I am eager to see if Hollywood can do some good for public health by harnessing this powerful health education tool to promote accurate knowledge - particularly about sex matters.
Related Topics:
1 Comments:
Louanne! Great job on this blog! I thought that episode of Mad About You was hilarious, but also inaccurate. Have you noted the commercials for other ED prescriptions that they say to consult a doctor for erections lasting longer than 4 hours?
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