TV Fiction As Public Health Instruction And Motivation

11-14-2006 | Categories:

Patient Education

Prime time to learn By Susan Brink, Los Angeles Times November 13, 2006

Lorraine Bracco plays Dr. Jennifer Melfi, Tony’s therapist on “The Sopranos”

This especially interesting article convincingly presents an intriguing premise outlined in its first paragraph:

Americans more than just believe the health information they get from fictional television shows. Spurred by what they see on shows like “ER” or “The Bold and the Beautiful,” surveys suggest, they take action. They go to the doctor. They tell a friend to have that cough checked. They ask a lover to use a condom.

Screenwriters are far more capable than healthcare professionals to gain and retain the viewer’s attention, to educate, and to inspire without sacrificing accuracy.

Examples of the power of television programming to move the audience include an increase in contraceptive sales of 23% the first year a Mexican telenovela, “Acompañame,” dealing with an impoverished woman’s efforts to prevent having more children, aired (compared with an increase of 7% the previous year) and an increase in the reported condom use during the last sexual encounter from 34% among South Africans who did not tune into a soap opera called “Tsha Tsha” to 60% among those who watched 10 or more of the programs.

According to the article,

The CDC analyzed U.S. health survey data in 1999. Researchers concluded that of the 38 million Americans who regularly watch daytime soap operas, almost half said they learned something about diseases and how to prevent them. Even better, about a third of viewers said they took some action based on what they saw on a soap opera, including 7% who visited a doctor and 6% who did something to prevent a health problem.

Further, a popular TV program accesses an audience much larger than any group of physicians can hope to reach.

Commentary

My only caveat is that this well-researched article is dedicated to the thesis that TV programming is a positive force for healthcare. Little attention is given to the potential problems such programming could cause. An example that comes quickly to mind is the creation of unrealistic expectations by the physicians portrayed by expert actors abetted by a script that describes miraculous cures, astounding diagnoses, and cases wrapped up in 60 minutes compared to real-life clinicians who are harried and haven’t the advantage of a convenient script to fall back on.

Nonetheless, this is a valuable idea and one that seems potentially useful conveying a concept as complex as adherence to treatment.

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