Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111686

Jilian Miller, BS¹, Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD, MPH², and Charlene Caburnay, MPH². (1) Health Communications Research Laboratory, Saint Louis University School of Public Health, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63104, 314-977-4097, millerjr@slu.edu, (2) Health Communication Research Laboratory, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette, Salus Center Suite 408, Saint Louis, MO 63104

According to the CDC's 2002 BRFSS, 60% of Missouri adults are overweight or obese, an increase of 95% from 1990. Obesity significantly increases one's risk for chronic diseases and its prevalence is approaching near-epidemic rates. Successful strategies on individual and societal levels should address both physical activity and diet in order to maximize effectiveness of obesity prevention messages. This study examined television news coverage of two modifiable risk factors to prevent obesity– physical activity and diet. We tracked two small-market, daily television news broadcasts from June 1999 to October 2003. The broadcasts were content analyzed for stories which mentioned diet and/or physical activity and its relationship to chronic disease. A total of 140 stories of approximately 23,730 reviewed met these criteria. Of these, approximately half had a primarily prevention focus (53%) or suggested preventive actions steps individuals could take to reduce their risk (55%), but far fewer reported a local angle (27%), or provided community mobilization steps for the community to address these risk factors (4%). These results suggest that television news stories on diet and physical activity are failing to adequately provide the public with steps they can take to reduce their risk of chronic disease. Individuals could seek to benefit from television news coverage of health messages which are more locally relevant and provide clear and consistent preventive action steps. This presentation will provide specific recommendations for public health advocates and practitioners for improving upon the obesity prevention messages provided by television news media.

Learning Objectives:

• To identify two modifiable risk factors for preventing obesity.
• To describe characteristics of local television news media coverage of physical activity
• To provide recommendations on how television health news stories can be improved to provide more locally relevant, action-oriented information.

Keywords: Obesity, Media

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation